Beauty and the Beast: Rewritten
by regenengel3
Summary: A castle in the forest, a missing Prince, a monster in the forest, and an oblivious town? What really happened? And why? Belle is an average young lady with a pretty face and a protective, adventurous, older brother though lately she's been having odd dreams. Why does that fur cover face seem so familiar? And what is going on with that brother of hers? The truth will be found.
1. A Royal Meltdown

Disclaimer: I do not own B&tB, but I do own a few twits and characters. Readers, I'll let you find the add ons.

A Royal Meltdown

"Why do you always mope dearest?" Matthew's mother asked worriedly. Opening the door, she saw him sitting on his bed, staring forlornly at a portrait of his late father.

"I am not moping, mother, I just don't want to see all those crazy people you call friends." The moody teenager said, "Besides, my father died only five weeks ago. Surely I'm entitled to a little mourning?" His mother sighed and took a moment to look over her thirteen year old son. He was on the tall side, about five foot eight. Thick, dark brown hair hung to only just before his shoulders and framed an elf like face, which was expected. His father the king had been part elf after all. Just as his father's had been, his eyes were a startling sapphire blue. There was an inner strength in his gaze, and elegant grace seemed to radiate out from him. If only he would use that grace to dance once in awhile. He was a wonderful dancer. Matthew saw the look she was giving him and slipped off his high canopied bed, brushing non-existent dust from his vest. It was of such a dark blue it was nearly black. Worked over with thorny vines of silver and grape leaves of somber green, it covered an ivory colored, billowy sleeved shirt. His black pants were close fitting and the boots he wore were high topped and shiny black. Every garment was trimmed in silver and sapphires. On a whole, he cut a dashing figure.

"Thank you, Matthew. I know how hard it is for you. I felt the same as you when your grandfather passed on." He turned and regarded her with one eyebrow raised. Matthew was about to say that she probably hadn't, when he noticed the look on her face. He knew she was thinking that he really looked remarkably like his father.

"Shall we entertain our guests together?" He asked, bowing and offering his mother an arm. The imitation of his recently deceased father was so good, his mother nearly did a double take. She smiled, a rare light coming to her eyes.

"Actually, Matthew dear, I would like you to do me a favor." He groaned. The favors he had done for her in the past had been less than pleasurable. In fact, they had been horrible. Worse. They had been painful, and, in some cases, humiliating. His mother laughed. She knew he was probably remembering the snow war where he had been dunked in the snow more than a hundred times and had a cold for weeks, all because she had asked him to play with the other kids as a favor. "It will not be like the others. There is a girl, Isabelle, and I think she likes this party as much as you do. Would you kindly take her for a tour?" Matthew would have liked to tell her to go away and not bother him for a week, but his father in him made him nod. He followed his mother into the hall, down the corridor, and descended the grand staircase to the entrance hall. As his mother slowed, he saw her. She was beautiful! She was as tall as him, if not a little taller. Her hair was the color of hazelnuts and hung to her elbows in gentle waves, restrained by only a thin circlet of silver that looked like it had seen many hands before hers. As she turned, her lavender gown of silk rustling like leaves in an autumn breeze, he caught sight of her eyes. They were warm and caring. The color of roasted hazelnuts and as deep as a water well, and just as dark, they captured and held his attention. He stumbled with his tongue and felt as though he had tumbled into her eyes and wouldn't hit the bottom for years. His mother smiled, _I just knew he would like her. The poor girl, no family, no money, how awful it must be for her. _She thought, watching him lead dear Isabelle toward some of the more interesting places in the castle once he had recovered from the shock of seeing her. She really was a beauty.

"You can see that this part of the castle was made in the middle ages, some four hundred years ago, by looking at the strong, hard, and practical stone work. Over there, we have a cannon that was used by Sir Francis Drake in his raid of the Spanish fort _Castillo de San Marcos_. My uncle was Sir Francis' friend, it was he who got that cannon. To the left…" _How can he be so nice to me, and yet have such cruel, harsh, and uncaring eyes? They're such a nice color, but they need to soften. Show a tender spot, please! _Isabelle thought as Matthew led her through the castle's many twisting corridors, and also giving her a running commentary on the castle's past. He noticed her intent gaze focused on his eyes and narrowed them in curiosity. She obviously mistook his look as one of anger, for she jumped half a foot in the air and a foot and a half to the side. The sight of a princess jumping like a lost, wild kitten was so comical, Matthew was forced to laugh, a short halting sound that none the less had a musical quality to it. Isabelle forgot her wounded pride for a moment as the sound of laughter filled the corridor. She turned to him, a hopeful look on her face, yet her hope was turned to disappointment. His laughter didn't reach his eyes, those icy orbs that scared her and enchanted her at the same time. _Why does she stare at my eyes like that? Are they really so interesting?_

"How do you like the castle, Isabelle?"

"They're too cold, too hard…" Matthew, who was already walking again, stopped and jerked around to face her.

"What?"

"Your eyes I mean. They're too cold, like orbs of ice chiseled to look like eyes. They don't look human. And another thing..." she paused, uncertainty in her eyes. Her bold streak won out and she continued. "How can you be so nice, and yet so cruel?" Matthew blinked and stared at her. His eyes were drawn to hers. All he saw was an honest question, concern, and a hurt looking light. In them he saw his mother, his father, his older half sister, the captain of the guard, the list went on and on. He turned away from the figures of his past, and little did he know, his future.

"Go away," he said, his voice rough and harsh with emotion and pain. He couldn't stand to be with her when she was right and he was a hard, cruel youth. Ashamed of himself and his harshness, he turned around to come face to face with her. Deep, timeless eyes, saddened, but not watering, stared back at him. "I'm not good enough to even be with you." he said, turning away again. He couldn't stand to look into her eyes for long. _But why is that though? Why can't I look into her eyes as long as I want? _He wondered. He heard the sound of her footfalls moving at a steady-stately even!-pace toward him. He would wonder later why she had been so close to him when he had turned to tell her why he had barked at her.

"Listen, if one of us isn't good enough for the other it's me. I may seem like the youngest daughter of a low ranking lord, but I'm really the orphan daughter of a poor fisherman." Matthew felt his mouth drop and found him self whirling around against his will.

"What is this you are saying woman? You are no fisherman's daughter, you are…"

"The handmaiden to the young lady of Finwright valley."

"I'm still too good for you." Isabelle cocked her head to the side and gave him a critical look. She smiled slightly, and gave her head a little shake.

"With all due respect your highness, it is as I told you before. I am the one who isn't good enough." As Matthew opened his mouth she took a leap and said, "Prince Matthew, by saying that you don't deserve me, you have shown that one day you may," she got a queer look in her eye, "Know this, dear Prince, when your darkest day has come and you are ready to give up, you will find your hope in the thickest rain. When your world is an unending rainstorm, you will find the brightest light in the darkest cloud." After she had finished, she twirled on her heel and glided away.

Time passed as usual in the royal castle. The one exception was that Matthew was learning his responsibilities as king, though he had yet to be crowned. He sent letters to Finwright valley, all addressed to Isabelle Niovia, all without response. As time wore on, he sunk farther into violence and depression. Exactly three years after the 'party', the Queen fell dangerously ill. Not even the highest trained and best equipped physicians could keep her stable for more than two days. Matthew decided enough was enough, and marched to his mother's rooms. Standing in front of the great, simply carved pine doors, which in and of it's self was odd seeing as all the other doors in the castle were of impressive, darkly stained oak with skillful engravings of the royal crest worked on and across the top and bottom. He nearly lost his nerve staring at those beautiful, special doors that hid his deathly ill mother from the world, those doors that reflected his parents so well. He took one final, steadying breath and said, his voice hushed and gentle with a hint of fear and weariness, "Mother?" Maria turned and smiled at her sixteen year old son as he entered the room. He moved over to his mother's bedside, Maria looking him over as he did so with wary, weary grace. He had grown in the time since that night he had met Isabelle, having filled out as his training worked him bone weary so that he collapsed into bed at night, hoping that Captain Marcos Flint, as the pages and Matthew called the Captain of the king's Militia and personal guard, wouldn't move him into the servants quarters with only a bamboo mat between him and the cold, hard stone. She could tell he had come straight to her after changing out of his sweat stained cloths. His hair was still wet. He bore a sword at his hip with an easy familiarity that she found herself envying. He would protect his country well when she was gone, of that she was certain. Her smile widened as he sat. _Yes, he will do well. A strong young lad like him is just what we need. Oh, if only I could live to see him crowned! If only I could witness his wedding to his unusual princess. _She thought to herself, yet said only,

"Dearest! I am so glad you're here. Would you go and open the bottom drawer of my dresser?" Matthew walked as calmly he could, which meant he walked slowly and tried to cry as quietly as possible, though the tears still streamed down his face. He knew what she kept there, and didn't want to have to get it just yet. He didn't want to hear her admit she was close to death indeed, knocking on his front door in fact. He pulled it open and, reaching in, pulled out a folder labeled with a handwriting he hadn't seen in three years and five weeks. His father's neat calligraphy. He handed it to Maria at her quiet wish.

"It's your father's will." She said, rather unnecessarily.

"I had my will put right beside his. It is time you had this Matthew. Call… the family together. You… are… only hope… counting on you… my son… Matthew." And with that she passed to the loving hands of God.

"Dear Lord, please take her to Father. I know they are both with you now. Let them know I have always loved them, even if I had a really twisted way of showing it. In your almighty name I pray, Amen." He felt strangely drained and so went up to bed for a nap. All in the castle whispered that the last of King Peter Darien Tavagonio had either died or fallen into a coma because once his wife died, he seemed to disappear from Prince Matthew. Throwing himself on his bed, the slightly depressed prince searched for sleep, the only escape from reality he had, but couldn't find it. Matthew got up and sat at his desk, grabbed his peacock feather quill, and started writing the invitations to the will reading.

Five weeks later, the entrance hall once again played host to hundreds of people.

"I would like to welcome you all here today. As you know, my dear mother, Maria Tavagonio, has passed from this world. You are here for the reading of the will. Also, I would like to thank you all for coming like you did for the reading of my father's will. Mother's last words to me were; 'Call the family together. You are only hope counting on you my son Matthew,' now, she lost me after 'Call the family together.' I don't know what the rest means, but I do know that once this is over and done, I will never see any of you ever again." there was an outbreak of disapproving remarks which he watched with an emotionless face. His sister called out,

"Are you leaving the family? Do you disown us? We are all you have left." her eyes were shining fiercely, yet when Matthew turned his emotionless gaze on her it caused her to draw back. Was this really the child who had run to her with some small hurt asking her to kiss it away? Was this really the same young man she had tutored in archery? She thought not, it must be a cold assassin that was magically disguised as her half-brother. He raised one eyebrow and answered her with this,

"I am not leaving the family, I'm just not seeing anyone ever again," he noted the look on her face and, misunderstanding it, added, "Do I cause you fright? Am I really that terrifying? Just forget about me as a family member if it will help. I am just some crazy teenager who moved here and is closing his gates." The rest of the proceedings went quietly and quickly. After it was over, Matthew's older half sister, Elizabeth, walked up to him and said,

"If you ever need me, write and I will come. Even if it takes me two years, I will come." He simply nodded, and as she cleared the gate, snapped it shut. She turned, her eye's wide with outrage, to see him calmly turn the key in the heavy padlock. Elizabeth felt her blood run cold at the sight of his eyes. They looked like pools of dark water frozen by winter's harsh temperatures. They were the eyes of a lost and weary soul that had nothing left to live for. Matthew had lost the will to live, and he didn't want anyone but the servants to see. She could see, or feel, which ever, the traces of their father fading. She swallowed loudly and resolved to come back in four years, even if she never got a letter from her brother. That night, Matthew felt a strange tingling sensation along his spine. It compelled him to go to the gates. When he arrived, he saw an old beggar woman

"What do you want old woman?" he asked the haggard old woman who stood before him.

"I will give you this rose if you will give me shelter for the night." Matthew looked her over and said,

"I have closed my gates ma'am, I'm afraid you must go away. You will have to continue to the village just after the woods and down the lane. I'm sure they will welcome you at the Nymph's Tale Tavern." The woman seemed bent on staying the night there and said,

"Do not be deceived Prince Matthew, true beauty is the inside, not the outer shell."

"I believe I told you to go away." the woman seemed completely un-fazed by his gaze and said,

"You are a heartless man, and for that you will pay," she said, her cloak falling to the ground, along with her ugliness. "_Actormas darivian nocturnes dorivain!_" As she spoke those terrible words the walls of the castle, which were gleaming white with moon light, turned black. The angels turned to gargoyles and the windows, once warm and inviting, became cold, dark and foreboding, but worst of all was the pain Matthew felt. His bones realigned and reshaped. Hair sprouted over all his body and his feet and hands became paws with the claws of a bear. He felt horns grow from his temples and his mouth elongate. Fire sired through his veins and he felt as if a beast within himself, which he had always kept caged, burst through his defenses and would not be subdued easily nor at anytime in the foreseeable future. "Since love you lack, love will it be to turn you back to your proper form." Said the enchantress icily. She handed Matthew the rose saying, "It will bloom until your twenty first year and then begin to wilt. You have till the last petal falls to learn to love and gain love in return. If not, you and your servants will stay this way, forever." The prince-turned-beast walked back to the castle after un-locking the gates so that any wandering women could seek shelter there. The next day, there were exclamations galore as the residents discovered their change. Cathreir, the cook, woke up in the kitchen as an oven stove with a central chimney and cross pieces. Dashieria, the seamstress, was a wardrobe, Bashiria, one of the chamber maids, was a duster. Lumière, the prince's chamberlain, was a candle stick, while his friend, Cogsworth, the Ceremonies Master, was a pendulum clock. Everyone who wasn't bolted to the floor stormed (if you could call a horde of strangely moving, living, talking, supposedly inanimate objects moving in one direction 'storming')to Matthew's rooms looking for an answer.

"Master Matthew? Might you have an explanation for this strange turn of events?" Asked Mrs. Potts, a grandmotherly tea pot, of the great oak doors.

"Yes, I do indeed." answered a gravelly voice from behind the door.

"Master?" they all chorused in unison. They were all highly concerned for him as this was not the usual soft, musical voice drifting though the door. A sigh drifted out, followed by,

"Move back, I'm going to open the door." as the door creaked open, they saw a great paw coming out. All of them felt their fear grow as he emerged from his room. "Well?" he said, "Don't you have anything to say? And why did you all turn into household objects? Is this some kind of twisted joke Enchantress? I ask because I am not LAUGHING!" The last word was truly a roar befitting his monstrous form. He went about his business, as did the servants, but he walked as one defeated and placed under house arrest for the rest of an immeasurably long life. The servants had seen him down before, but not this down. This was torture of the worst kind, like he was tearing them apart with just a glance. His eyes were often glazed and sorrowful, but they found ways to burn with barely contained rage behind that glaze only a broken man can possess. He began to lose his temper more and more often. It was apparent to all that he was telling him self that he was a monster un-befitting company, and was making himself believe it. The other inhabitants didn't know that it was that inner beast that made he so eager to leave the company of others. Everyone tried to help him as much as possible, but it is hard to help someone who has given up before the fight has even begun. As the months dragged on, Matthew's dark and hopeless mood spread to cover the whole castle. Walking down the hall, feeling beaten and dejected, Lumière heard his master's shuffling footfalls. He was about to put on a false display of cheeriness when to his horror, Matthew caught sight of his reflection in a mirror and, with a roar of pure, animalistic rage, smashed it and all but the magic mirror his mother had left him to smithereens. Later that week Matthew decided that his bed was too strong a tie to his past, so he tore it to shreds. Occasionally he could be heard muttering about the Enchantress and a woman named Isabelle. More and more he locked himself away, he also got to the point that he fled from anyone who had connections to his old training master, Captain Ivino. What none in the castle knew was that those people made the beast in him rise up and try to take control so it could wipe them out, and it hurt him to flee to keep them safe.

"It's hard watching some one die this way. It's especially hard to watch someone you love die this way, because you feel you are dieing right along side them." Said the kind Mrs. Potts a year after the spell had been cast. Matthew had sunk farther into anger and depression, and had become more and more violent, yet he seemed to grow more caring at the same time. He already knew about true love, he just didn't know it. Love for the servants gave him the strength to flee to his room and battle the beast back down. No one really knew the strength of Matthew's heart and mind, not even himself. The castle fell even further into gloom as midwinter came and went. Matthew refused to let a party be held, it brought back to many memories and made that horrible thing inside him want to hurt people. Winter reigned still in the hearts and minds of the castles occupants, especially the master of the darkened, relocated castle. Things would only get worse before it got better. The forest around the castle darkened and grew wilder as the years passed, less and less sunlight found it's way to the sad, lonely castle. It was as if even the sun didn't want to see the Prince in such a state.


	2. The Love of a Brother

The Love of a Brother

People came to fear the woods in which the castle lay, unknown to them. Tale's of monster bears were abundant. The best tales of the danger of the Forest of Fears, as it came to be known, were those the hunters brought back after hunting near there. "I was stalking a big buck, when I heard the roar of a human bear! That's right, a human bear. He's out there, roaming the woods and howling after what is lost. His roar is like a scream of anger, pain and loss, just like a human, mingled with the uncaring roar of a grizzly bear. Never let him catch you, or he'll try to use you to become a human." Legends about the Human Bear grew up. Within three years of the spell being cast, those legends, though young, were actually quite close to the truth. Beautiful young maidens were kept well away from the forest, for fear that if they took one step among the trees, they would draw the human bear. This superstition was further believed when a beautiful young woman, rumored to be the princess, entered the forest and never returned. The trees grew more and more dense and oppressive as the brambles grew more and more tangled. The only ones who dared venture into that dark wood were hunters and their lackeys, who trusted the hunters for protection. However, there was one who was neither hunter nor lackey who dared enter that dark and foreboding forest, his name was Daniel Marcos Ivino. He was the only son of the local inventor and brother of the town beauty, Belle. The best hunter in town, Harrison Gaston, wanted Belle as his wife for no other reason than that she was the most beautiful woman in Tale's Wood Village. Daniel was steadfast in his opinion that Harrison was not good enough for his sister because of why Harrison wanted her as his wife. The whole town liked Daniel for his disposition, he had helped pretty much everyone with many things and always worked with a smile on his face and assurance in his movement, but they all adored Harrison for his strength. There would be much mourning if Harrison killed Daniel over Belle. Maurice, Daniel's father, warned him to stay away from the Gaston house. Tensions ran high and blood boiled every time people from those two families got near each other. Belle sighed and wished Harrison would just take a hint and leave her family alone. Her wishes never came true and Daniel grew to like Harrison less and less as time wore on. People began to say that Daniel had been driven mad by the woods, and those tales made the townsfolk fear the trees even more. Despite what some said of them, the Ivino family was well liked and requests were made of Maurice for new tools and Daniel was the one to go to for home repairs. The Gastons, however, did everything themselves and resented the Ivinos, but they all wanted to see Belle become a part of their family so that they could look at her whenever they wanted.

"If the man had any intelligence at all he would see that she is kind, caring, smart, sarcastic, and gentle like a summer breeze, an all around wonderful woman who deserves someone who enjoys her books and walking under shady trees. She deserves someone who could see her as she truly is. She is not a prize to be won! He acts as if she's a horse he has to tame!" Daniel ranted to his father one night. "I mean, the guy only wants her for her beauty. That is no where near enough reason to marry. Father," he moved to the arm of his father's chair and knelt down to plead with the slightly uncomfortable Maurice, "we cannot let Harrison Gaston have her. Gordan should keep a closer eye on his son. Please father, try to reason with Gordan. He's got a level head, for the most part, and I know he'll listen to you." Maurice looked at his son. Daniel was six foot four, with average shoulders and strong arms. His hazel eyes were dark and intense. His black hair hung to his shoulders and his face was solemn and merry at the same time. If you didn't know him, it was impossible to know when he was joking or when he was dead serious, unless he narrowed his eyes and leaned in. He was not as good in a fight as many of the townsmen, but he could still intimidate almost anybody with his glare. Many a brave man had said, 'Daniel Ivino could spear a man with naught but his eyes.'

"Daniel, I know how much you love Belle, but I don't think Gordan can keep his son under control. Harrison is almost twenty-one you know." Daniel pushed himself up and away from the chair and began to pace the room with an agitated gait.

"But there must be something we can do to make Harrison re-evaluate his motives," he said, still pacing out his agitation. Maurice shook his head and said, resigned to the fact that Daniel would argue any point,

"I'm not so sure, Daniel. Harrison may have simply gotten it in his head that Belle is the only one who could possibly be his wife." Daniel sighed,

"So he has made her the target?" Maurice nodded, hoping his son would notice the movement. Daniel chuckled at the confirmation to his suspicions. "He is in for a huge surprise. Belle will never be a target, she is the arrow. She only sits still for more than five minutes when it is raining, and even then she has to move around the house for a while before she can sit still again." Maurice sighed.

"Harrison will not be satisfied until he has married your sister. He will break her spirit before or after the wedding, he cares not which." Daniel, still pacing, grabbed a stick, which he had brought inside for just such an occasion, and snapped it clean in half. "He will marry your sister." Daniel snapped the stick into fourths. He knew his father was right, he just couldn't force himself to accept it. He looked at his father, then out the window toward the big house in which the Gaston family lived. He closed his eyes and slid down the wall, head drooping and shoulders shaking. Marice had only seen his son cry twice since his mother had died when he was eighteen. First, when his wife, Marian, had been killed after their sixth anniversary, seven years previously. Second, when he thought that Belle was going to die, five years ago. He had been thirty-two when Belle had caught a horrible fever and thirty when his wife died in his arms, his six year old twin sons running off for some unknown reason the very same day. To see Daniel weeping now made Marice realize just how much Daniel hated the thought of Belle being forced to marry Harrison and how much he hated being unable to stop it. Maurice wished he could give his son some help with the matter, but there was nothing the little inventor could do. Harrison was six foot eight and had enough muscle to carry at least four bucks while Maurice was only five five and not very strong physically.

Belle woke up after the father son chat and knew something was going to happen soon. Walking down stairs, she knew immediately that her brother had been taken up by the irresistible urge to make pancakes, bacon, and apple fritters for his family. "UUMMM! Daniel, your cooking smells, if possible, even better then usual!" she said as she sat at the table ,mouth watering so badly that she had to wipe drool from her chin. Her older brother laughed as he put a steaming plate in front of her.

"After a week of nothing but father's cooking? I think it's possible." Belle laughed. She was glad Daniel was back from his trip into the forest. He had made it his mission to dissolve the superstitions the village had about the forest that protected their southern side from attack and always went on a trek through the forest. The length of his trips always varied and this trip had been a month long. Since no one went with him because of their fear, Daniel had become one of the best cooks in the town. He was also quite handy with a needle, something Belle always used to the fullest when he was home. She would declare the second day that her brother was home mending day. Their father was rather hard on his cloths, particularly his socks. Her arm had gotten broken a week ago, hence the comment about having only their father's cooking.

"Right you are brother!" she said, laughter still coloring her voice. She looked at her plate, a single pancake, three pieces of crisp bacon, and two apple fritters. She smiled and said, "You still remember how much I love your apple fritters." Daniel, in a stroke of pure brilliance, had prepared an even better surprise for his little sister. Pulling out a large jug, he smiled and turned from the cabinet so that she could see what it was. "You made your famous forest syrup!" she squealed. It was her favorite syrup, and even though few outside their family ever tasted it she still had to call it famous.

"I found the ingredients and simply had to make some right there in the forest. When I heard you had broken your arm, I knew I had to come home. Since I knew you loved it, I saved it for you. I was a bit deeper in the forest than usual, so it took me a while to get to you, allowing the syrup to develop the texture and constancy you love," he said, smiling at his sister as she reached out to pour some on her pancake and fritters. He decided to give her a hand before she spilled it all over herself.

"How did you get news if you were so deep in the forest?" Maurice asked.

"Harrison, he said that some men had asked him to find me and tell me about Belle's accident. He met them at the farthest edge of the fringe," Daniel replied. The family had a wonderful time together until lunch when Maurice decided to work on his invention and Daniel and Belle went into town. First was the Dryad's Tale Bookstore for Belle to return some books she had borrowed and to get some more for her recovery. Daniel made it into a show by scampering and stumbling around the store getting the books his sister requested.

"Oh, Bravo! Daniel, that was quite the save!" Belle called out as her brother did an amazing swerve and tilt to save the books on his head from toppling over. He turned and gave her a dashing smile before crouching and then standing up suddenly so as to make the books hop off his head, and caught them all in his hands.

"My pleasure, just glad you enjoyed the show. Can we go to the hardware store now?" he asked, his eyes wide and imploring. She laughed and said,

"Only if you put those books in my basket and thank Mr. Edward." Daniel quickly dumped the books in the waiting basket and thanked the store's owner and only worker. Edward laughed as Daniel practically drug Belle from the store and up the street to the hardware store so he could look at nails and saws and hammers and not worry about what kind of plot the item had. After that, they went to the tavern for something to drink.

"And so I tracked down that beauty and took him down, using the horns of that stag in this very chair." Belle groaned. Harrison Gaston. "If only Belle could hear, maybe then she would see I'm giving her the best husband around. The bravest, smartest, stronget, most amazing guy around." Daniel growled deep in his throat, pushing Belle into the shadows. Harrison turned to see what had caused the sound. He came face to face with a mad Daniel. It was enough to make him stumble back a few steps. Daniel's steel like eyes were narrow slits. His lips, so often seen in a disarming smile, were curled up and away from his perfect teeth. He leaned in as he said, his voice a deadly hiss,

"You are the worst man for my sister. If I hear you wishing she were here to listen to your boasting... if I hear you saying that if she could hear of your deeds she would consent to be your wife... you had better pack your bags because I will hunt you down and beat that out of you. Do you understand?" Harrison, humiliated that he had been scared of Daniel, said,

"I understand that you would be the one who got beat." Daniel, who had been about to walk out the door without an answer, turned.

"You wanna test that?" Harrison sneered and lunged at Daniel, hoping to catch him off guard and possibly knock him unconscious. However, Harrison had been drinking and Daniel had not only the advantage of a clear head, but also of greater agility. He jumped the blind tackle and rolled away from the hook, coming up behind the hunter. Laughing, Daniel kept dodging and landing light jabs to Harrison's chest, arms, and ribs, always one step ahead of the large man. Harrison came charging at Daniel, this time he got two solid hits in. The laughing stopped. Daniel was doubled over in pain. The fight seemed to go down hill from there. Daniel got hit time and time again. When it seemed all hope for Daniel was lost, he saw his opening. Harrison came charging blindly at him, fist held out far from his body. The laughing came back. Harrison could tell the slender man had something up his sleeve, and he was right. Daniel gathered his strength, which was still considerable seeing as he worked many odd jobs and many of them involved heavy lifting or long treks, and rammed himself into the charging drunk. The combination of Daniel ramming and Harrison charging forced Harrison to be sick all over the chair he had been boasting about! "Also, I'm not too sure you can protect her well, seeing as you just got beat!" Daniel said as a final blow. Harrison was about to make a scathing comeback with fists and words, when he noticed Belle. She had a look of resigned sadness on her face and glistening tracks that spoke of recent tears. She walked up to Daniel and dragged him from the tavern. Daniel was huffing and wheezing slightly. "Why? I beat him didn't I?" Belle snorted.

"The only thing you beat was his chair." Daniel gave her a mix between a sigh and a 'humph'. She laughed. "But I don't think it will ever be the same." He laughed slightly, before it turned into a cough.

"What about his pride?" Belle cackled.

"It will recover, as quickly his stomach." Her brother seemed disappointed.

"How will it recover so quick?" another snort from Belle.

"The next buck he brings down will sort out his wounded pride." Daniel laughed weakly. She was right, Harrison would heal his pride by bringing down a huge buck and mounting the horns on his wall, or another chair. When they got home, Maurice made a big deal about Daniel's injures.

"You really should watch where you step and pick your fights more wisely! I don't know what you are thinking when you go looking for trouble, namely Harrison. Every time you do that you come home looking like an abstract painting! Look at this! Two ribs cracked, judging by your wincing and hissing, three more bruised, judging by just your wincing, as well as multiple bruises all over your upper body."

"Harrison was boasting and said that if Belle could hear him she would see he was the best guy in town, and therefore the only choice for her. I had to do it." Maurice sighed. He knew it was Daniel's way of showing his love, he just wished he would ask for a few lessons before he took on Harrison. He wasn't exactly the best fighter in town. The next day, Daniel had a whole load of mending dumped on his lap and a needle and thread pushed into his hand.

"Sew," ordered his taskmaster as she dropped a bunch of cloth scraps between them. He sighed. Mending day. It had to come, but he didn't have to like it. Belle laughed and set to work as best she could with a broken arm. Daniel smiled and got to work. He bantered good naturally with his sister, and subtlety took some of her work from her lap as she laughed at him. Belle knew that her brother was feeling the beating he had received from Harrison, and wanted to let him rest, but knew he would take as much of her work as he possibly could without making her too indignant. Maurice just hoped they didn't try to out nice each other. After the mending was done, which took the better part of the month since both workers were still healing from major injuries, Belle's battleground became the house while Daniel took the yard, roof, barn, and ice house for his. At the end of the day both soldiers collapsed onto their respective chairs, one on either side of the hearth. By the end of the week, the house was as spotless as Belle could get it, the yard was clipped, weeded, and the patch of ground they farmed had been plowed and their seeds spread. The roof had been repaired and cleaned, as well as the barn and ice house. The horses had been exercised, brushed and their hooves had been cleaned. Daniel had mucked out all the stalls and laid down fresh straw. All of the harnesses and riding saddles were cleaned and oiled, as was the wood of the barn and stable. Maurice was in charge of the cellar, the only other place Belle was not allowed to clean, where he experimented with the ideas that sprung into his brilliant mind. It was a mine field in that underground room, just like the man's bedroom, the other place Belle was not to clean. Daniel groaned as he heard their father enter the kitchen. He knew there would be dust or mud or oil or just plain old muck on his father's boots, clothes, and hands. Belle twitched, moved her lips around like she was trying to rid her mouth of a strange taste, and started to snore softly. Daniel smiled fondly at the sleeping form and quietly stood and covered her with her favorite blanket. As he entered the kitchen, he groaned again. There was dark, slightly gelatinous oily muck on his father's boots, just like he had predicted to himself, only it was worse. Much worse. It was a combination of all four possibilities he had predicted.

"I wish you would clean your boots before you come upstairs, father," he said quietly. Maurice jumped about half a foot at the unexpected sound.

"How do you do that? You always scare me when you creep around like that." Daniel laughed. His father scowled, but then broke out in laughter. "You look like your mother when you laugh." Daniel focused on his father's face. He smiled, knelt down, and pulled Maurice's feet out from under him in one quick, strong movement. The resulting crash woke Belle from a sound slumber. She rushed into the kitchen only to be met by her brother smiling as he took his father's mucky footwear off and chucked them down the stairs while Maurice scowled as if trying to keep from laughing. She laughed and said,

"I'll get the cleaning supplies back out." Daniel helped his father back to his feet and moved over to the cupboards to start dinner. He watched his sister clean the floor and thought to himself, _'The man who wins her heart had better be a gallant prince or I don't know what I'll do.'_ As if Belle could feel his eyes on her, or hear his thoughts, she turned and looked up at him. "Daniel, I'm glad you're back. Life is just so much more complete when you are here, lending us your silent support. You may not know it, but you are much more important than you think, and not just to us. People are always sad when you go to the forest. They mutter, 'A shame he feels he has to risk his life in that forest when he could be doing so much more around town.' They worry for you brother, just like Father and I. Do you think you could skip a year? Everyone would appreciate it." Daniel chuckled.

"You were buttering me up for that, weren't you?" The innocent pixie look on his sister's face told him he was right. He laughed again. "I may be able to stay home a bit longer than usual this year." A brilliant smile broke out on Belle's face. He turned back to his cooking, a smile gracing his own features. Dinner passed with many complements on Daniel's cooking. The next day Harrison came over for lunch. Daniel, who had made the lunch, silently objected to Harrison eating food he had prepared. He was especially upset that Harrison would eat his share of the food. He was saved from his pain by Belle. Just as Harrison was about to take his first bite she called out,

"You shouldn't eat that!" He looked at her quizzically. "Daniel always puts poison in his food. They may be mild, since he uses them to build immunity to the poison, but they could really harm you. I suggest that you go and eat with your own family at your own table. If you go now you won't be poisoned." Harrison, who feared poison, found a polite way to flee the house. Daniel burst out laughing after the door had slammed shut.

"How did you come up with the poison story?" he asked, partially winded by laughter.

"Your food is poisoned." Daniel looked at the bowl suspiciously. "It has an over abundant amount of pepper and lemon."

"And that's poison?"

"To me it is. My mouth can't handle that much heat. You go and live in the forest for a few months every year so it seemed only natural that you would build up an immunity to some of the more common poisons of said forest. You are also a bit of a tough guy, giving further valid cause to the story." They laughed and gave Belle that point. The weeks passed and Daniel kept thinking to himself, _'Only a gallant knight of a prince could possibly be good enough for this angle that is my younger sister.'_ Belle watched her brother and smiled to herself. She loved how his eyes sparkled and his smile seemed brighter than the stars to her.

"And the dashing prince said to his defeated adversary, 'I will spare you, but the life you shall live shall be that of a marked man.' Out flashed his shining blade and the evil count cried out in pain as a cross was cut into his cheek. The prince took the count to the doctor and asked for the cuts to be treated, but to make sure that the mark stayed. From that day on, Count Dray was a scorned man, marked as an enemy of the crown. Everyone agreed that the prince had found what he had been missing and he was crowned king. Under his rule, the kingdom prospered and relations with neighboring kingdoms had never been better. Everything was picture perfect, until the next time at least," Belle read, finishing the book she had been reading to her family after dinner. Daniel applauded her as she bowed.

"You are as passionate as always." She laughed and said,

"Well, that's the end of the book, now it's your turn to entertain us." He groaned but got up all the same.

"I don't have anything as exciting as one of Belle's books, but I do have a tale to tell." Maurice and Belle leaned forward in their seats. "While I was out in the woods, I heard a strange sound. It was as if someone was coming toward me. Whenever I stopped, it stopped. Every night I felt eyes on me. Now, it's not to strange for humans to be watched by forest creatures, but this was a strange presence. It was sad, mad, and in pain. It made me think of those stories of a human bear that lives in the woods. My sense of weariness grew until one night I left this strange thing some scraps. When I woke up, the scraps were gone and in their place was a note. It said, 'Thanks for the snack, do you have any marshmallows?' I was so startled that the thing had left a note asking for marshmallows that I screamed. All the same, I left a few rice balls and marshmallows in the same place as the scraps and the next day found another note. 'Thanks for the marshmallows. I'll let you go where you please in peace.' This had never happened before, and I was curious about it, so I left a note of my own. 'Who are you? Why have you been following me?' I asked. It seems whoever had left the notes had left because the note was still there in the morning. It may still be there. To this day, I wonder about it." Belle let out a great whoosh of breath.

"Were you scared?" Daniel smiled at her.

"Very, and don't you ever forget it. It had sounded a bit like a bear when it moved through the trees." Maurice shuddered.

"I would hate for you to run into a bear out there."

"So would I," Belle said, shivering. Daniel laughed.

"I think the bears all know that I'm too stubborn and would fight even when I had been hit." Belle laughed with him.

"You are quite stubborn brother!" The house rang with the sound of their laughter and the neighbors wished once more that Daniel would stop going into the forest. "Just out of curiosity, when did this happen?" asked Belle as her laughter quieted.

"On my last trip. I hope to have another run-in with the stranger. Perhaps then I can figure out who, or even what, it was," Daniel answered, brows furrowed as he thought about that strange encounter.

"You may find out sooner than you'd think, though not in the way you'd expect," Belle said suddenly. Maurice and Daniel both looked at her in surprise. She had a faraway look in her eyes and it sounded as though she were but a vessel for another person's voice. Daniel shivered. He hated it when Belle acted that way.

"Who wants hot coco?" he asked abruptly, summoning Belle back from wherever she had been. Smiling at her beloved big brother, she exclaimed that she would. Laughing at the sheer joy in his sister's eyes, Daniel got up to make a batch of his town famous hot coco. He had made the mistake of making some for a Christmas party at the tavern and from the day on, every time he worked at a house or the tavern on a cold day he would be asked to make some of his hot coco. He set a mug down in front of his now giddy sister and eased himself into his own chair. Smiling, Daniel basked in the love of his family. He really should keep his trips short. He loved this feeling of warmth and safety.


	3. Dark Days and Rainstorms

A/N: Yeah, so... I realized this was the wrong chapter a full day after I uploaded it the first time. Not such a good feeling. Also, I made my account so my unofficial beta would keep sending me reviews on a longer story I'm working on for a different Fandom. Anyways, since I'm editing this one before I post it, I suppose there is one more thing I need to add.

Disclaimer: Beauty and the Beast is not mine and never will be. This is all just the product of boredom and the need to work on my writing which prompted me to write with pre-made characters and a mostly pre-made plot.

Dark Days and Rainstorms

Belle walked out the door, biding her brother stay awake and out of trouble. It had been two days since she was able to take off the splint and was desperate to get out. Her basket swinging on her arm, she made her way to Dryad's Tale bookstore. "Little town, full of little people waking up to say..." she began to sing.

"Bonjour!" called the people. They sang their way through the start of their day, yet as soon as Belle walked into the book shop, the sound fell away. "Good morning Monsieur, have you got any thing new?" The shop keeper laughed and said,

"Not since yesterday, Belle!"

"That's OK," said Belle, who was already up on a ladder looking at the titles. "I'll just borrow this story." The old man looked at the cover and exclaimed,

"You've read this twice already!"

"It's my favorite of all. Daring sword fights, a prince in disguise, intrigue, heroics, it's like a holiday with Daniel when he's hyped up on coffee!" she retorted. The book-dealer laughed and said,

"It's yours, since you love it so much." Belle was at a loss.

"Thank you, but, don't you want some money?"

"Belle, the fact that you show any interest in books is payment enough," the old shopkeeper said with a smile. Belle thanked him again and then made her way through the streets to her house. At the edge of town, near the small dirt path that led to her house, Belle was intercepted by Harrison Gaston and his lackey, La Fou. La Fou was a man of small stature but was unparalleled in his devotion to Harrison. The two were inseparable. Since Gaston was the best hunter in town he was the village's number one single male, but he treated everyone as beneath him. He was even horrible to his best friend, which is a feat only Harrison Gaston could pull off. Little did Belle know, but Gaston had named her number one single female, and therefore simply HAD to marry her. He snatched her book away and began to give her grief about how she always read and never paid a speck of attention to him. She managed to get her book back, but not before Gaston threw it in the mud. She didn't get back on the road before Harrison and La Fou had stared to pick on her father, calling him an old loon. They even called her brother a slacker, which said that Marice was a horrible father who couldn't raise his son to be a hard worker. Belle snorted to herself, as if her brother hadn't fixed both of their roofs free of charge as well as cleaned their chimneys and brought La Fou and his family food after the loss of La Fou's father. Back at the house, Belle told her hard working brother to let her do some of the paperwork while he got some rest. Daniel laughed and said,

"I bet that it won't be five minutes before you clock out." However, he did agree to rest his eyes a moment. It was seven minutes before Belle's eyes drifted shut and her mind flew to the clouds. While she was out, she had a strange dream, almost like she was watching someone through a warped pane of glass.

_ A beast looked out from the looking glass. It was a truly terrifying sight. Horns sprouted from his temples and fangs curled down from his upper jaw. It was an unknown face, and yet, the eyes seemed familiar, as if she had seen them somewhere before_._ It felt as if she knew this creature, had talked with him. That was crazy talk of course, it was a bear-monster, a myth... wasn't it?_

Matthew looked into the looking glass and forced himself to not cringe away at what he saw in the last unbroken piece of silver plated glass. He managed it by staring at his eyes, the only part of him that the enchantress deemed fit to leave be. They were also, quite possibly, the only thing he liked about himself now. He growled to himself, slightly, without moving his lips from where they molded around the sharp fangs his canine teeth had become.

_He seemed a monster from legend. And yet, he seemed so painfully sad, as though he had seen much pain, suffering, and loss in his life time. Too much in too short a time. She had seen eyes like that before. They were the eyes of one who had seen war up close and personal. Though, it was strange seeing those emotions in those startling blue eyes. She felt as though she wanted to reach out and hug the beast. She shook her head at herself. It never ceased to amaze her that she could get these feelings from the frighteningly real dreams. It was almost as if she knew just what the beast's thoughts were. But that was impossible... wasn't it?_

It seemed almost silly that he should be afraid of his own reflection. After all, he was a terrifying beast of legend. He felt the sadness welling up inside him and tried to suppress it, and was met with limited success. He was a little ashamed of himself. He, a Prince, should not be so afraid of his own reflection. The man-beast squashed the mirthless chuckle that worked its way up his throat. His head was all abuzz with his restless thoughts. There was a feeling, like a cloth or a moth's wings brushing against his skin, that nagged at his consciousness.

_He looked over his balcony rail at his dusty, ill-maintained courtyard. As he looked over what he had once had and what he had now lost, he let out a roar of rage, sadness, and pain. The clarity with which she knew his feelings had lost some of its wonder, but the feelings themselves were amazing. Though, it wasn't the feelings so much as the fact that it was a legendary beast who was feeling them that was so amazing. They were so real, so human. How could something so beast-like have such a human heart?_

He put the glass down and moved to the balcony when he could bare it no longer. He looked out over what he had once had and what he had now lost and let out a roar filled with rage, pain, and sadness. If he had been thinking about why he was roaring or what emotions were transmitted through that roar, he would likely have been stunned. It would not have been that such emotions could be in a roar, but rather that he was feeling them. He was putting emotions he hadn't known he could feel into that roar. After all, he was a beast. How could a beast have such human emotions. He put more anger into his roar and turned away, running from those feather light touches he knew he didn't deserve. How could a monster ever deserve such gentle caresses?

Belle jerked awake with a scream. That roar was twice as loud as the last one! Daniel exclaimed in shock and tumbled to the ground while trying to draw an imaginary sword. "What? What is it?" he asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes.

"Well, I won our bet. It was seven minutes before I clocked out. On the other hand, I just had a really weird dream." Daniel chuckled slightly.

"Tell me about it."

"I would rather have Papa here, and don't think that you are going to escape telling yours. You've got me interested in what was so weird in your dreams." Daniel slumped, then humphed, then returned his gaze to his younger sister. His face was back to neutral, meaning it was back to being solemn and mirthful at the same time. He said, his deep, rich voice matching his face for tone,

"I hope you will not be disappointed."

"Oh papa, I don't know what's wrong with me. I keep dreaming of a beast that lives in a castle and is full of rage at some enchantress, sadness for his servants who are also his friends, and pain over his loss. I feel like I've seen that castle before, and not from a previous dream! It's more like… a far off memory that's become a scattered dream. I don't know what it is or why I have it, I just do," Belle complained and ranted to her father, in answer to his frenzied questions about her health and her screams. Daniel leaned against the wall, completely unconcerned, his mouth in a slight smirk and eyes all a-twinkle. She had started ranting more and more often about weirder and weirder stuff. Not weird as in how the chickens have been acting, but weird as in long forgotten memories coming back in pieces. "Papa, I feel like my memories have been shattered and lay scattered at my heart's feet and if I could just pick those pieces up and put them together, I would know who the beast is and who my mother is, who I am."

"Now Belle, I can tell you who I think you are, but only you can make the decision of whether I'm right or wrong." Belle looked at her father and wondered what she would do without him.

"Nothing, that's what you would do," said Daniel, deeming it time to remind his family he was there. Belle looked over at him, smiling in a strange mixture of irritated and fond.

"Daniel, what would YOU do without ME? That is the question I would put to you, dearest brother." Daniel pretended to think it over and then said,

"I would become buried under a pile of junk because you wouldn't tell me to pick it up." His reply was in a matter-of-fact tone and accompanied by a smile that couldn't quite be classified as smug or fond but walked the fine line between the two. A feat only Daniel could accomplish.

"Also, Daniel, you need to tell us about your dream. I am curious as to what could have been so strange in your mind. And why did you try to draw a sword you neither have nor know how to use?" Daniel grew sheepish as Maurice turned to him with a very stern look in his eye.

"It was much the same as your dream, minus the beast and castle. I was here, but there were two of me." Belle's eyes popped at that.

"There were TWO Daniel Marcos Ivinos?! The world would be torn apart by your battles over who was better at what and who knew better! That's not counting the fights over who's the real Daniel!" Daniel glared at his sister and said, his words dripping venom,

"Thank you for your faith in me." Belle could tell she had stepped over the fine line between teasing and hurting. She really didn't want to hurt Daniel. Not only did she love him, but he got rather dangerous when hurt. After Belle seemed to have herself under control, Daniel continued. "I watched the other me walk over to mother. She started talking to other me, but it was so quiet I couldn't hear. I moved over and I heard her saying how proud she was of me, how much she thought I deserved the metals I had been awarded after the war was declared over and our side the victor. I, the other me, said that I was just glad to be back home with her and the medals didn't mean as much as her smile. The two of them moved to the kitchen. I tried to follow, but then I heard Belle scream and I jerked up. The reason I tried to draw a sword was because I was starting to fade into the other me, I was starting to remember or... experience what the other me had experienced." Belle sighed and said,

"I remember that war. I just don't remember Mother being alive or you being a part of it, much less getting awarded metals." Maurice grunted his agreement to his daughter's statement.

"That's what has me, I don't remember it either. I know it was long, I know it was bloody, but I don't remember being in it," Daniel said, his usually neutral face serious and slightly confused. They all shook their heads at the mystery and went about their business as usual. The next day, Maurice was busy loading his latest invention onto the wagon when Belle walked up to him.

"Do you think there is any chance of getting Daniel swordsmanship lessons?"

"We simply don't have the money, Belle. If this invention wins first place at the fair, we may be able to send him off to the army academy. I know you would rather have him here, but what he said about being a soldier got me thinking he'd be a natural at it. I know you've seen him with Harrison, when they get into a fist fight." Belle sighed sadly, thinking of when Daniel challenged Harrison. Of course, Daniel had every reason to challenge Gaston, and he had given Harrison a hard time, ducking and throwing his full weight into his shoulder, driving it into Harrison's stomach.

"Thinking of that time I nearly bested Harrison?" Daniel said, startling his sister. She still didn't know HOW he did that.

"If I recall correctly, Harrison nearly threw you clean through the window."

"Yes, well, I still made him throw up all over his favorite chair."

"Um HUM. That was what saved you from getting beaten to a pulp," Belle retorted quickly. Maurice gave a shuddering sigh and finished his work as noisily as possible. Those two would be at it for a long time.

"I thought it was because he realized that you were watching and that if he beat me to a pulp his chances would be vaporized," he said, giving her that smile that walked the fine line between smug and fond. Belle returned the smile and turned to their father, knowing Daniel had beat her at that word battle. The two siblings helped him hook up the wagon to Phillip, their old draft horse. "You think you got it all?" asked Daniel as his father started to mount Phillip.

"Yes, I think that's everything. Now Belle, be nice to your brother, and Daniel, be nice to your sister. I'll be back in two or three days. Wish me luck!" And with that he was off. Belle's smile started to slip. Daniel noticed and told her to go inside and let him finish the chores, that way she could think over all the things that had been going though her head lately. Belle nodded and went inside, but couldn't make any sense of her thoughts. She went outside and told her brother that it would be better for her to work her thoughts into order instead of thinking them there.

Maurice rode down the road at a steady trot. As night closed in, he saw a fork in the road. The years of wind, rain, and snow had rendered the sign illegible, but something told him he wanted to go right. Phillip snorted and tugged the reins toward the left when Maurice tried to head in the direction his head was telling him. "Come now, Phillip! If we go this way, we'll be there in no time." However, after going that way for a time, it clicked that this wasn't the way. "Where are we? Where have you taken us Phillip? I think we need to turn around." Wolves howled and Phillip reared, took off, and left his rider on the ground and at the mercy of the wolves. Maurice called faintly for his horse, but Phillip was already a good ways toward home and dry, clean hay. Pushing himself up, Maurice realized that he needed to get somewhere safer than the open cliff face where he had fallen. He stumbled forward a few steps, then broke into a flat out run as he saw the approaching wolf pack. Tumbling down a small dip in the track, he saw a huge castle, its large wrought iron gates a few feet from where he lay. Maurice scrambled to them and threw his weight against them. The old hinges rumbled as the gate swung open. He fell through and slammed the gates shut against the raging wolves. The impressive, dark, oaken doors groaned in protest as he pushed them open. Ghostly footfalls danced in his ears as his feet fell upon the once white marble flooring.

"The poor man. Must have gotten lost in the woods on his way to the city," a voice called in the gloom.

"Hello?" called Maurice, "Is anybody there?"

"Not one little word," another voice whispered. Maurice had had enough. He grabbed his tender box and lit some lamps. The light revealed no one in the vicinity, just an old clock and a tarnished gold candlestick. It took a while for the old inventor to find out that the voices had been coming from the two objects on the table. The whole story of how exactly he found out would be far to long to even hope to put into writing, so I shall just say that it involved much jabbering and the old clock, whose name was Cogsworth, getting dropped by a very surprised Maurice. Finally, the candlestick led the man to a chair before the fire. A coat rack, who had once been the butler, wrapped him in a blanket and Mrs. Potts, a tea pot who had once been the cook's sou chef and wife, served him some nice warm tea. However, this happy fairy tale could not continue for just then the master of the castle burst into the room.

"What are you doing here?!" the beast roared. Maurice couldn't tear his eyes from the terrorizing sight before him. He had heard the tale of course. There was no doubt at all in his mind that this was the Human Bear. It was too frightening to be anything else. "So, you've come to stare at me have you?" Maurice was startled out of his trance by the voice coming from the monster. It was almost like a man, but with subtle differences.

"No, I just needed a place to spend the night," he said, wishing the monster would believe him, but the beast would have none of it. He picked Maurice up and carried him to the dungeons.

"We'll see how you like it here in the morning, or after lunch." Maurice was left in the dank gloom with that failed attempt at dark humor hanging over him. His thoughts turned to Belle and he felt a weight of fear settle upon his shoulders.

In his room, Matthew was pacing. Could this be what Isabelle was talking about? Could this be the start of his release? Thinking of Isabelle woke up his father in him enough for Matthew to pause and think of the man he had just tossed unceremoniously into the dungeon. What if he had a family? What if he had a wife and a few children depending on him to put food on the table? He cocked his head as a faint sound found its way to his ear. Sobs. The man was weeping. Matthew knew that there were people expecting him home soon. What if his daughter came looking for him? Would she stay in her father's stead? Did he even have a daughter? Was she old enough for him to have a chance? It had been nearly five years and he was almost completely without hope of ever returning to his previous form. His sister had arrived a year ago and was currently sitting in a darkened room thinking that her half brother had been eaten. He wondered if she would allow the man's daughter to see her. He roared and smashed some plank against the wall in attempt to silence his thoughts, he had no way of knowing whether or not the man even had a daughter. The roar and crack of wood splintering echoed and swayed into the ears of woods men and hunters. Many a returning man stated that the Human Bear was growing restless, and more furious. Young ladies were warned not to go within shouting distance of the forest, lest the beast catch them and attempt to become human.

Harrison pushed aside the branches blocking the cottage of his soon-to-be-bride from sight and smiled. The day had come. He would no longer wait for her to come to her senses. It was all set, he would go in, sweep her off her feet, walk out the door and up the aisle and they would be married by lunch time. As he let the branch snap back to its original place, poor La Fou got a big mouthful of leaves. Harrison stepped out and thanked the village for coming to the wedding, then he marched up the stairs and paraded into the living room. "Congratulations! Today your dreams come true!" he announced loudly.

"You mean father came back early with a gold metal that he won at the inventor's fair and Daniel has a full tuition scholarship to the military academy?" asked Belle, knowing full well that wasn't the dream he was talking of.

"No Belle. Today's the day that you get to marry me!" Belle had known this was coming, but she still felt a surge of repulsion as he said it. He saw and misunderstood. "You're speechless I see. I believe you'll find my home much more inviting than this place." The look on his face as he surveyed the cottage made Belle want to beat him and toss him in the pig sty. She had to content herself with simply tossing him out the door. She smiled when she heard the slush that meant he had, indeed, landed in the pig sty. Needless to say, the wedding was canceled. Later that day, Phillip came back to the stable. Water was pouring off his sides, and his swayed back held no rider. Belle knew that if her father was stranded in the forest that separated the village from the city, he wouldn't survive long without shelter. She didn't even think of the Human Bear, or that if he caught her he would try to become a human and when he was done with her, toss her out. All she thought of was her father and his health.

"Where's Papa? You have to take me to him," said Belle, unhitching the big Clydesdale from the wagon and climbing on. Off Phillip went, dashing through rainwater and trees, the latter's branches grabbed and snatched at her clothing and hair. After she had been riding for an hour or so, she saw a strange sight. "I've seen this castle before, in my dreams. I wonder if I'll meet the Beast." She rode up to the gates and, dismounting, entered the court yard. After she tied Philip to an old stump, she turned in a circle to see what she was getting herself into. The court yard showed sings of once being grand but having fallen into mismanagement, and under a spell she noticed with no little discomfort. Feeling overwhelmed by what she saw, she walked up the great stairs to the oaken doors. She pounded on it with all her might and finally it creaked open. "Is anyone home?" she called, feeling a little sad about dripping on the floor. Even if the carpets were grimy they still showed a pale shadow of the castle's previous grandeur.

"We are here, my lady," a voice said, echoing through the entrance hall.

"Who said that?! Where are you, I cannot see anyone here."

"On the table," said the voice, once again echoing through the hall. Belle turned and there, on the table, was a candle stick. "My name is Lumière. Who are you, my fine young lady?" the golden candle stick informed her. Belle could again see former glory in the ornamental light fixture.

"I am Belle," she answered, the strangeness of the situation barely dawning on her. Lumière seemed lost in thought. "What is it Lumière?"

"You remind me of someone, someone the master cared for."

"Would that person be 'Isabelle'?" Belle asked, an odd light in her eyes. Lumière couldn't place it, but he knew it from somewhere. He shook off his thoughts and said,

"Yes, that's the one. Princess Isabelle."

"Princess!?" Belle shrieked, causing Lumière to look at her with concern.

"Is everything all right? Yes, the master always calls her 'Princess' when he talks of her." Belle, looking shaken, turned to him and asked,

"Might I see the master?" Lumière looked skeptical but said,

"You just might. Follow me and we shall see." He led her up stairs and down corridors until they came to a pair of great oak doors(all the doors in that castle seemed to be oak), and Lumière told her not to get her hopes up. He knocked on the doors, which gave a most satisfying 'thump' when struck. A deep, gravelly voice called,

"Who is knocking at my door? I have no visitors." Before Lumière could answer, Belle called out saying,

"Your darkest day has come, and so has the hope." They could almost hear the Master sit up and turn his head to better hear. "As it was foretold, so has it come to pass," Belle said, the words coming, unbidden, to her tongue. The door soon opened, the hinges protesting loudly. Belle almost drew back in horror at the sight of him, yet some how she found him familiar. He was just what she had seen in her dreams. Yet, it was almost as if she had seen him here in this palace in a different life time.

"You are not Princess Isabelle. Why have you come here?" he asked, a hint of a roar in his deep, grating voice.

"I am Belle. I have come for my father who was lost in the woods. Our horse, who was carrying my father, brought me here. My father would be about five-five, gray hair, bald on top, and a little scatter brained." The beast cocked his head, blinked as she finished, then said,

"Lumière, take her downstairs and give her a glass of water, then kick her out the door." Belle gritted her teeth and said, her voice a deadly whisper,

"You will let my father go. Even if I must spend the rest of my life trapped with you in this castle I will see my father freed." The beast turned to face her and said,

"If you promise to stay forever, I will let him go." Belle smiled a smile befitting a mischievous pixie and gave this order,

"If you allow me half an hour with him, as well as safe passage to the town just through the woods, I give you the word of Belle Francis Ivino that I will stay forever."

"Done. Follow me," the beast said, breezing past her on surprisingly swift and silent feet. Belle followed as the beast led her through winding passage ways until they were in a dark, dank, dirty dungeon. There, in the last cell, was Belle's father.

"Let him out, I'll talk to him in the entrance hall," Belle ordered. The beast mumbled something about her being too bossy to be the one, but opened the door and led them to the entrance hall.

"Belle, you can't do this! I have no regrets, but I cannot live happily with the shadow of this act hanging over me!" Belle sighed-how would she be able to get him to go quietly?-and said, as a brainwave hit her,

"I know how you feel, but I have to do this. I gave my word, and I am not going to go back on it." The beast's ears pricked up at that. _Maybe she is the one, _he though, hope budding somewhere deep inside him though he tried his best to squash it. After her father left, Belle looked over at the Beast and smiled. It was a saddened smile, but it was the first he had seen in many years. _He may be a beast who is coarse on the outside, but maybe, just maybe, he is a kind man on the inside,_ Belle thought as she watched the little of his face she could see soften. As she followed him to her chambers, she noticed that they were not headed back to the dungeons, as she would have thought, but to the servants wing. She didn't know how she knew, but she liked the thought that he was going to be nice enough to her to let her stay in a real bed.

"These shall be you rooms. If there is anything you require, my servants shall attend you. Seeing as the castle is now your home, you may go anywhere, except the west wing." Belle heard but did not respond. She simply walked to the small, comfortable bed, swung her legs up on it, and closed her eyes in emotional pain. The beast stuck his head back in and, his voice a roar, ordered her to have dinner with him.

Belle sobbed. She had been sobbing for thirty minuets. She had let the Human Bear catch her! She would be stuck here with a monster from legend, granted it was a fresh legend and had only been around for five years, but still! "Now, now my dear. It will all be alright. The master is not as bad as he seems. He has been living like this for so long, he doesn't think he is fit for human company. Just give him a chance. He just might turn out much better than you think if you get him to see you as a friend." Belle just stared wide eyed and slack jawed. "Where are my manners? I am Dashieria, the seamstress to the royal family of Tavagonio." Belle finally found her voice and said,

"I am Belle Francis Ivino, daughter to an inventor in the Tales Wood Village." Dashieria sighed and told Belle that she had had a cousin in that village. His name was Gordan Gaston.

"That's the father of the man who wants to marry me." Belle informed her. She didn't even register how weird it felt talking to a wardrobe as if it was the cousin of a person she knew. Her heart was just that heavy.

Matthew felt as if he was smiling inside, even though he was tearing his chambers farther apart, though the servants had though it impossible. He knew he was starting to push her away by ordering her down to dinner, which she had refused point blank to do, but he couldn't stop himself. He was a monster and nothing could change him, right? If he knew how wrong he was, he may have jumped off the balcony. He saw her in his mind's eye, dripping wet with little droplets on her eyelashes, as she ordered him to let her father go. She was like a little frost queen, except when she gave him that sad smile. He felt something deep down, something he hardly dared to call hope. Her face was washed out by the cold of the rain and her lips looked as red as cherries and her eyes like roasted hazelnuts, just like her hair. He thought of her dress, then thought about asking Dashieria to make her a new one. Matthew picked up his mother's mirror and said,

"Show me Belle." As he watched her talk to Dashieria, the feeling of smiling grew stronger. Dashieria always did have a way of helping one feel at ease. _That's why I put her in that room,_ he realized, surprised that he had thought about who she would like and who could help her feel at ease. That night, he dreamed of something he hadn't dreamed of in years; Isabelle, and the night he had spent in her company as he showed her the castle. The next day he went to Dashieria after Belle had gone down to breakfast and asked her to make a few more dresses for Belle. Dashieria agreed enthusiastically, just as he knew she would. He was caught by her love of chattering on about dress designs. After having picked seven different patterns and two skirts and two bodices for each design, Matthew was able to slip away. He felt... strange. He felt almost... human. Had anyone bothered to look, they would have seen a shadow of the prince peering out of the beast. Again the feeling of smiling rose inside him and threatened to break through onto his face. The castle had a happier air about it than it had for eight years. Everyone breathed deeper and slept better with the knowledge that their release may be at hand, indeed already started. The rain that had been hanging over the woods and castle for three days fell away and revealed the sky. All within the castle looked up and smiled. The servants spent more time outside in two days then they had in a year when human. Belle slid outside and up a tree with a book she had found on the desk at the foot of her bed. It was a wonderful book, full of stories of princes and princesses in disguise. There was one story that seemed to have her brother in it, fighting as a captain in a war and winning the hand of the princess. Though, she thought, Daniel was no prince and the captain was really the long lost prince that the two kingdoms were fighting over! _How ironic_, she thought, _that while one king is fighting his neighbor over a son he had lost, the son was fighting his father to win the hand of the princess who's father is fighting the prince's father. Although, I guess the marriage of the prince of one kingdom and the princess of the other would only make the peace agreement all the stronger._ The fine weather lasted only those two days, yet the feeling those two days had brought would last for another week. Matthew looked at the stormy sky and thought, _If the weather were linked to my mood, it would be sunny for another month._


	4. Never Stand in the Way

Disclaimer: No, I do not own this. Only a few twists and a character or two.

A/N: So... if you're reading this... that means you haven't gotten bored with this fic yet! Yeas. I had planned for this to be a weekly update, but I thought, since it's actually finished and all I needed to do was upload it, I could post a bit more often. Reviews would help with that by the way. Just a little hint. Now enjoy the story!

Never Stand in the Way of a Woman on a Mission

Maurice ran to the town, then raced home to try and get help in rescuing Belle. "Daniel! Daniel! He has your sister, he has Belle!" he shouted as he entered the house. Daniel looked up from his work and at his father, confusion plain on his face.

"Who's Belle?" he asked. "And who has her?" Maurice stared at him.

"The beast has your sister," Maurice said, confused. Daniel shook his head and said,

"I have no sister. I may love the farm hand like a sister, but I don't have one. Another thing is, the farm hand's name is Isabelle, not Belle." Maurice slumped into a chair, shaking his head in denial. "I know it's hard father, but it's true."

"No, it's not true! The Human Bear captured me and Belle traded herself so I could come here and live. I can't leave her with that monster! Please, you have to help me get her back!" Daniel shook his head and said,

"Father, you must have hit your head hard because the Human Bear is just a story made up to explain why that forest is called the Forest of Fears. Go lay down, I'll get you a cup of tea."

"No! The Human Bear is real! He threw me in the dungeon and then Belle came and struck a deal with him and now she's stuck there forever. You have to help me! We have to get her out of there!" Daniel shook his head. He knew his father was probably delusional. Then something his father had said came back to him.

"Wait, she struck a deal with it? How could one strike a deal with a wild animal?"

"It walks, talks, and reasons like a human. That's part of the reason it wants to be human. Don't you remember the whole story?" Daniel shook his head. Maurice took a breath and launched into the tale, without glossing anything over. "Once, there was a castle on that hill, the one over looking the forest, and what a castle it was! Shining marble, soaring towers, sweeping arches, and dark, impressive doors carved with the royal crest. Then, five weeks after the good Queen died, joining her beloved King in the high halls of heaven, the Prince shut the gates. That very night the castle vanished in a flash of light. Blue and green sparks were the only evidence that magic had gotten rid of the castle. The next day, several men went up the hill to see if they could find any trace of the castle. When the men came back, they all asked, 'What castle?' when questioned. Next, the hunters returned with tales of a bear who screamed with human pain. There were sightings of a huge, shaggy animal in the forest. It had the horns of a bison, snout, hind legs, and tail of a wolf, and misshapen arms with claws like a bear but more human. He had the eyes of a human, yet all the hunters said that it could see them, even in the dark when all they had to tell them that they were not alone was the rustling of leaves and the crunch and crackle of old leaves and twigs being stepped on. They all agreed that the calls they heard were the frustrated cries of the Human Bear's frantic attempts to become fully human being thwarted time and time again. Though the Forest of Fears lays quiet and still, the Human Bear is still there, biding his time. He has found the way to become human, so they say. Love, true love. That is the only thing that can make him fully human. Yet it is futile, my son, futile. He is a beast, through and through. It is impossible for him to experience the love we humans bare for our spouses." Daniel, who had been the picture of seriousness throughout the tale, laughed.

"Sounds a bit like dear Harrison. He has no room for love in his heart. It is full of self love and a burning passion for hunting. The man lives for it!" Marice nodded, the spell placed on the village taking affect. No one knew, but the enchantress was making sure the two at the castle had long enough to realize that they cared for one another before anyone came for Belle. As the enchantress watched Maurice fight the spell she was amazed at the strength of the man's will and love for Belle. She had chosen well.

Belle went to work getting the castle fixed up. The servants loved it, and her, because for once they were doing something, plus there was someone new to talk to. The servants would tell her things about hundred times. It got so bad, she had to say, "Would you please stop?" Matthew was pleased at how well she got along with the servants, he just wasn't so happy about them getting the castle presentable again. Once the walls shone as brightly as granite could it would bring back too many memories. He feared that he would harm Belle and his servants when they got too close to having the palace nice looking. Belle started in the servants wing, seeing as that was where she was going to be living for the foreseeable future. She helped the servants get higher up, as well helping them to be more effective. After the Servant's Quarter was as spotless as she could get it, she moved to the kitchen. Never had she scraped more grease or scrubbed more grime off a single stove top in all her life! The floor was littered with scraps of food and caked with spilled soup, sauce, broth, and drippings. The cupboards were swept out and rubbed down. New stain and new polish was applied to all the wood in that grungy kitchen. Bottles were organized, ingredients were sorted through and organized according to height, type, and how often they were used. When the kitchen was done, she decided to take a look at the exterior. It was crazy! She had seen that the lawn had fallen into mismanagement, but it was ten times worse looking at it and knowing that you were going to fix it up. That wasn't counting the court yards or the drive. The servants were very encouraging, they knew how inactivity effected people. So, with her band of strangely animate objects in tow, Belle went to work systematically. She alternated inside and outside, one inside job then an outside job. This seemed to be a relatively easy way to get it all done and still be able to get out. Belle decided to start the outside jobs with the stables. Like the kitchen, she had never seen such a holy mess! The stalls were filthy. All of the hay had been spoiled by the persistent drip from the ceiling, and there was no way the grooms could have fixed it, seeing as they had all been turned into hammers, nails, rakes, and ladders. The stalls were all mucked out, the wood was even cleaned and oiled. Once the stables were deemed passable, Belle moved back inside. She tackled the Entrance Hall and all the galleries facing it. The drapes were even replaced and the carpets beaten. She slowly made her way to the east wing. Once she got to the door to the ground level of the east wing, she moved back outside. The lawn was next on the exterior list. Belle wondered if the 'No going into the West Wing' rule counted for the grounds and walls. She ended up doing the western lawn and walls. If the master didn't like it, oh well. They raked, weeded, and clipped the lawn, hoping that the master wouldn't thrash them all for going to the west side. Belle and her crew then tackled the east wing. Slowly, they went deeper and deeper into the ground level of the east wing. The expedition was halted for a moment when Belle ran from a room, coughing violently.

"There is a very mad pair of bellows in there," Belle said between coughs. Somehow they got the whole wing cleaned, which was hard, seeing as this was where all the prickly people had been when the spell had been cast. As with all the other inhabitants of the castle, the touchy people had all stayed where they had been after the spell took effect. Next were the vegetable patches, which were numerous and large. Not to mention they were nearly over run with weeds. There were several vegetables tat had to be thrown out since they had been munched on by small forest creatures during the past year or so. Belle and her band of cleaners plunged into the underground levels after the vegetable patches were sorted out. After the lower levels were done, Belle somehow managed to clean all the windows. Again, the west side was done, the servants praying the master would spare them afterward.

Matthew watched Belle and her bucket come ever closer. He moved away from his window and drew the blinds as she came close enough to see him. He hoped she would pass over his windows, seeing as they were not the strongest in the world and one could almost see them bend when the wind blew. He was wrong, she washed them too. He could hear her telling someone to make a note to replace the windows as soon as possible. He heard a muffled reply. "Nonsense. His or not, they are simply unacceptable. They're dangerous! One good strong wind could blow them in!" He felt himself smiling inside. She was worried about he getting hurt? He firmly told himself he was reading more into it than what was really there and tried to shake the thought away. She moved along the castle wall, cleaning the windows and frames as she went. He saw her silhouette against his drapes. "It's a shame really," she said, "Those drapes would be so pretty if they were washed and aired. Pity he won't let me in there. I wonder what he's hiding." Matthew was about to call out an answer when he heard the servant she had with her say,

"The master has many secrets. No one knows how many, but we all know how fiercely he guards them. Not to mention how much he enjoys having one place where he is safe from seeing us and being reminded why he is trapped in this living nightmare." Matthew stood in open mouthed shock. Did the servants really know so much about him? And since when did they have such sweet talkers in the Servant's Guarter? He would have to review the old duty roosters his father had made for long ago feasts. Thinking of his father got Matthew thinking about how the man had treated the staff in the castle. He held his actions up to his father's and shuddered. He was seeing just why his form was so hideous. Compared to his father he was a black hearted villain with no shame. No care at all for the world as long as he got what he wanted. Matthew sighed and his thoughts turned to how the castle was looking more hospitable every day. It was like they were going to have a party. The thought made him edgy. Thoughts of parties made him think back to the balls and feasts his family would host, and how he had acted at those parties. Man had he been a pain. Now, the very thought of a dance made him start to get riled up. Yet somehow he knew that Belle would love a ball. She did have a ball gown after all. Why Dashiria had made that gown he did not even pretend to know. He thought back over the past few weeks, the weeks he had watched Belle cleaning from the shadows. She was a delight to all in everything she did. She wanted the servants to feel needed, so she told them to fetch things and do things for her. She wanted the place to be as peaceful as possible for them all and so she cleaned. She wanted the servants to be happy, so she told them stories by the fire after the day's work was done. Singing ballads, marching songs, nursery rhymes or plain old songs she had picked up as she worked she lifted even his spirit. An amazing puzzle was this bright, singing woman whom he had trapped by her own word. Matthew smiled, even though the monster inside him, who seemed to be blending into him, growled._ Maybe there is hope for you yet, Prince._ Matthew jerked about, trying vainly to find the source of the hopeful statement. With no answers forthcoming, Matthew settled down for the night.

The herb gardens were attacked the next day with a vigor that made Matthew jealous. He had never been so bent on getting something neat. With every passing day, Belle was getting closer to the master's room. The drive was cleared, as well as the court yards and even a few of the bricks were replaced. Belle oiled and re-stained the doors, as well as applied polish to the dark portals. Everyone knew that though he was happy that Belle was happy, the master was getting edgy about the cleaning, like he thought they were going to hold a party. It got worse and worse until he saw them working in the West Hall, right in front of the doors to the West Wing. He went berserk and tossed buckets around, and even tossed a few of his servants. When he tried to slash the curtains, Belle grabbed his forearms, one in each hand and, with unusual strength, held him there. She stared into his eyes and said,

"Please don't tear my curtains, I will get very mad. I have just finished making those, and if you harm them more than getting them wet, you WILL regret it. Am I understood?" He simply nodded his head. When she let him go, he scampered to his room. Everyone was amazed that she had actually made him run from her. They never had more trouble from the master, not with the cleaning of the rest of the castle at least. However, he had ideas about the West Wing that Belle had no care for.

"I am not having you anywhere NEAR there!" The roar reverberated throughout the whole castle. The servants moved with a little bit more care, for they had no way of knowing where he was. His voice always seemed to come from the very walls when he was really mad.

"I WILL clean your room whither you like it or not. I just can't leave ONE WHOLE WING untouched! It must be aggravating your allergies, what with all the dust and all."

"I have no allergies."

"Really? I heard that you were allergic to dust. So, I'll just go clean up all that dust, replace what is unable to be salvaged, have some lunch brought up for you and be on my way." She tried to pass him and enter the West Wing. The master blocked her, his massive body nearly filling the whole doorway.

"You are forbidden! There is no way of knowing how long you will take in there."

"Like I was forbidden to change the drapes?" Belle came back smartly.

"I told you no."

"I say, let me clean your room."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes, and if you keep me from your room you will regret it."

"Oh, and HOW could you make me regret it?"

"If I told you, I would have to give you amnesia."

"I still say no, and I'll tell you why. There is an air in there, an air that can magnify the emotions people are feeling, making it nearly impossible for anyone to keep it together when more than one person at a time goes in there," he said. However, Belle could tell he was wondering if she really would give him amnesia. And if so, how?

"And I say you need a clean environment or you'll just get more prickly. I have no fear of magical air that could make me snap at people."

"I'm not prickly!" the beast roared, ignoring her later comment. Belle cocked an eyebrow at him and chuckled to her self.

"Point," she paused, her eyes daring him to retort, "proven." She brushed past him, armed with broom, dust pan, and duster.

"Would you like a bandage master?" quipped the feather duster as she was whipped around the corner. The master growled at their departing backs. Belle had known he was making up that whole story about magical air, yet how she had known is the real question.

Belle and her band took care of all the other rooms on the first floor before they went to the master's. Belle opened one door and was greeted by a gasp and a dark shape scampering away from the light. "Is someone in here?" she asked, waving aside the mop she had brought with her. A voice called out in response,

"Who are you? I had no idea that there was another human within these walls." As the voice spoke, a woman walked hesitantly out of the shadows. All the servants did their best to bow, a few even trying to take Belle down with them.

"Princess Elizabeth, this is Belle. She is bound here by a deal she made with the Master to free her father. She is allowed anywhere on the grounds, though your brother has only recently been forced to allow Belle into the West Wing to clean."

"BROTHER!" Belle and Elizabeth both screamed. "I didn't know the master had a human sister. And a royal one at that!" Belle elaborated. Princess Elizabeth shook her head.

"That beast is not my half brother! That boy died long ago." Belle lit a lamp and exclaimed,

"This room is a mess! You can tell me your story while I clean. When I am done, I'll tell you mine." Elizabeth agreed and began to give a narrative of her experiences.

"It all started when my half brother was seven. He found me, who was fourteen, reading a book about daring princes and trapped princesses. He knew that the prince and the princess he rescued got married, and he also guessed correctly that I was daydreaming about dating. Well, after that day the whole boy craze left me. My half brother, who had always been a darling boy, started to give me a hard time. Father always gave him a talking to when he caught the boy at it, but it didn't make too much of an impression until father got so mad over something he said that he threw the boy into the pond. I remember that he had such a bad cold after that, it had been in the tail end of one of the hardest winters we had ever known. Well, after that I was left in peace. Then, when father died and Isabelle came, I began to have hope that he would recover. Yet, Isabelle left, seemingly never to return for she sent my half brother's letters back unopened. When his mother died, three years after our father, he broke. I watched as our father and his influence faded from the young Prince. He was only sixteen! I vowed to return to the castle, in which he had locked himself up, in four years. I arrived here about a year ago, and it took me awhile to find the castle for the last time I had been here, it was on the hill. Anyway, when I got here, I was greeted by a snarling voice and a monster looming above me. I know it tried to tell me something, I was just to terrified to pay attention. I believe quite firmly that the master of this castle has eaten my dear half brother, and if that is so, no-one can kill it. My younger sibling was the best swordsman I have ever seen, even at thirteen." Belle smiled at the praise the princess gave her younger half brother.

"Maybe the beast took your brother by surprise. My older brother, Daniel, isn't the best in the fighter in the village, but he nearly defeated the strongest man around in a fist fight. The only thing that saved his life, besides the fact that the man he was fighting wants to marry me, was that he caught the brute by surprise and made him throw up all over his favorite chair by ramming his shoulder into the man's stomach with all his strength." Elizabeth smiled and nodded, it made sense. Her brother had been out of sorts when she left and she guessed that it wasn't long after that when he and the castle were enchanted.

"Wait, are you saying that the royal castle that was on that hill over looking Tale's Wood Village is the same as this one?" asked Belle, disbelieving.

"It is the only explanation available, Belle." Belle frowned as she thought.

"Have you ever heard the Legend of the Human Bear?" Elizabeth shook her head. "It goes like this. Once, there was a castle on that hill, the one over looking the forest, and what a castle it was! Shining marble, soaring towers, sweeping arches, and dark, impressive doors carved with the royal crest. Then, five weeks after the good Queen died, joining her beloved King in the high halls of heaven, the Prince shut the gates. That very night the castle vanished in a flash of light. Blue and green sparks were the only evidence that magic had gotten rid of the castle. The next day, several men went up the hill to see if they could find any trace of the castle. When the men came back, they all asked, 'What castle?' when questioned. Next, the hunters returned with tales of a bear who screamed with human pain. There were sightings of a huge, shaggy animal in the forest. It had the horns of a bison, snout, hind legs, and tail of a wolf, and misshapen arms with claws like a bear but more human. He had the eyes of a human, yet all the hunters said that it could see them, even in the dark when all they had to tell them that they were not alone was the rustling of leaves and the crunch and crackle of old leaves and twigs being stepped on. They all agree that the calls they hear are the frustrated cries of the Human Bear's frantic attempts to become fully human being thwarted time and time again. Though the Forest of Fears lays quiet and still, the Human Bear is still there, biding his time. He has found the way to become human. Love, true love. That is the only thing that can make him fully human. Yet it is futile, my Princess, futile. He is a beast, through and through. It is impossible for him to experience the love we humans bare for our spouses." Elizabeth shook her head again.

"That last bit is misled. That is really quite close to what must have happened, and the dates of the myth and of reality fit. He is not a beast through and through. I see now that there is a shadow of my brother in all that fur. Thank you, Belle, you saved me from going mad! I would like to help you fix up the castle, I have been in here to long."

"Wait, my story is not yet finished." Elizabeth nodded and motioned for Belle to sit. "I had been having strange dreams about a dark castle and a beast who lived there for days. Every time I closed my eyes, every night, I saw that castle and that beast. Then, two days before I came here, I had the same dream from the night before. Then, when my father left, I was still trying to work out what the dreams were trying to tell me. I was not the only one either. Daniel, who has never seen an actual sword much less welded one, had been having dreams about being a war hero and captain, only it was like an out of body experience. The day after father's departure, Phillip, our Clydesdale draft horse, came back to the stable without my father. I set out to get him back, but in the process of getting him freed, I trapped myself." Elizabeth was saddened by Belle's tale. "Well, it's all behind me now. Do you think you could give the tea cups a bath? I have something I have to do." Elizabeth nodded and said she would do her best. Belle walked with her to the West Hall and there they parted company. Before Elizabeth rounded the bend, she turned to look at Belle and said,

"Just as my brother is a shadow of his past, yours may be to. What is his full name?" Belle looked back and said,

"Daniel Marcos Ivino." A smug smile slid over Elizabeth's face.

"Then his dream is a repressed memory, for that is the name of my brother's old training master." Belle was amazed, but for some reason it made sense. Daniel had been acting a bit more like a self-assured soldier. Something tugged at the back of her mind, like something was not quite right. As she made her way to the master's room it clicked. Daniel had never mentioned anything about being a training master to the crown prince. If he had been the training master he would have told her stories about training him. Another possibility hit her like a wave of cold ocean water, sapping the warmth form her bones. He could have been placed under a spell, like all the servants. Sure he was a really high ranking servant, but even a training master had to be viewed as part of the staff. She hated the idea of Daniel, her beloved Daniel, being under a spell and not even realizing it! She made her way down the hall in a brooding cloud of dark thoughts. The storm cloud was whisked away as she neared the mine field the Prince called a bedchamber. The door needed a new coat of paint and the hinges needed oiling. She sent for the materials needed for that task and moved on to the room beyond. Nothing had prepared her for the battle of getting the prince's room neat.

"She has arranged a palace coup with household objects! She is completely taking over!" Matthew ranted to himself in the privacy of his room. He was trying to hide some things before 'The Cleaner' came. He hid his mother's mirror, tossed a cloth over the bell jar containing the rose and swept some other things under the bed. When the dreaded moment came and the door opened, Belle shrieked.

"I cannot believe you trashed your room so completely! I'm going to have to get rid of most of this, I will not allow you to have such trash in your room. And WHAT have you done to your BED?! I'll have to haul that out. The walls will need some major cleaning, as well as a new coat of paint. All the windows need to be replaced. A new dresser and wash stand are also needed, along with new railings for the balcony. Have Dashiria notified that more drapes are in need of repairs, and could some one get me the buckets, mops, as well as the trash bins brought up here? I'll also need hot, sudsy water and the scrub brushes." She had gotten really good at assessing the situation and figuring out what was needed to fix it, as well as getting people to follow her orders. Guess it was needed of her, seeing as she had made it her top priority to get the castle habitable again. '_Enough is enough.'_ Matthew thought as he listened to her rant about how his room was unacceptable and how to fix it.

"I am sick and tired of having you think you can run the place. I have to draw the line some where, and here is where it is," he said savagely, ready to go on, but to his amazement Belle was looking at something on his wall.

"Where did you get that painting?" she asked, pointing to a shredded portrait clinging to the wall. Paint still showed through the dust and faces through slashes.

"It was sent to me six years ago by an owl. Very strange that, it's usually a mail man."

"I was the one who painted that. I wondered where it went. What have you done to it?" Belle asked, turning to face the beast. Her eyes could almost be called sad.

"What I have done to the rest of my things," the beast replied solemnly, noting that Belle's eyes had the same effect on him as Isabelle's. Belle looked up into his face, focusing her tumbling emotions in her gaze, and said,

"I painted it to represent a prince I had... met." She turned her head to the left and down. Matthew could see her confusion at realizing she had met a prince, no matter how long ago. Even though he didn't realize just how weird it was for her that she was talking to the half brother of the princess, he knew something was seriously troubling her. He walked over to her, feeling the most human he had felt in nearly four years.

"It was a prince and a princess, right?" His voice the softest and most musical it had been in four years. Belle looked up and forgot what she was going to say as the ghost of a face came in to view. It was framed by thick, dark brown hair just like the master's fur, and a ghost of a smile was on his fair, expressive face. His shocking blue eyes smiled at her, though she was sure she had once seen them as orbs of ice. She thought of The Painted Prince and compared the two images.

"The only difference between him and the Painted Prince are the eyes, even though they are the very same color. His are much softer and warmer than those of the Painted Prince." Matthew blinked a couple of times before asking,

"What are you talking about?" Belle gasped as she realized she had spoken aloud, and that she was talking to the Master of the castle in which she was trapped. She turned to leave without a word, her mind working in overdrive. She knew he was the prince from the painting and she knew that the girl was her. What she didn't know was how she met him, what his name was, how she knew the girl was her, and how he got to be the Human Bear of the Forest of Fears, though she knew that he was probably under a powerful spell. '_I can't let her leave just yet. I need answers!'_ thought Matthew as he took her departing arm. She turned and said,

"Let me go, dear Prince. I know some of who you are now. The rest will come to me with time, I know it will. All I need is some time alone to think and I will have the whole picture. I know that you are the prince from the painting, I just need your name and how I met you. I also have a feeling that the Princess you had in that dust filled room really was your sister. You really have had a rough time Beast, I just hope you and your half sister make it through." As she left, Matthew was already putting the pieces together, his mind also working in overdrive.


	5. Putting the Pieces Together

Putting the Pieces Together Side by Side

"She is more than she appears, I know she is!" Matthew growled as he pictured Isabelle and then pictured Belle and mentally compared them. Isabelle was five ten, if not a little taller. Her hair was the color of hazelnuts and hung to her elbows in gentle waves, restrained by only a thin circlet of silver that looked like it had seen many hands before hers. Her eyes were a warm, caring, dark brown as deep as a water well. Belle was also five ten, if not taller. Her hair was also hazelnut colored, it hung to her waist in gentle waves when not plaited to keep it from the soapy water she used on the castle. And her eyes were just like Isabelle's. _ 'Maybe she IS Isabelle. The painting showed the scene of Isabelle's prediction. Plus, Belle had met the 'Painted.' The way she talked made it seem as if she was the one in the painting. I'll need to find out what I can of her,' _Matthew though. That night they both dreamed a similar dream.

_ It was a beautiful day. Belle saddled her mare, Snowblossom, and headed out. The wind whipped her hair and tore her laughter from her throat. She felt like she was flying, flying on the wind. She pulled Snowblossom up sharply in a forest clearing because she didn't want to fly through branches, and she had heard someone else. She dismounted and prepared to greet her visitor. A man, a prince, astride a magnificent golden brown and black stallion broke through the bush and pulled up just as sharply as she had herself. "You are an amazing horse-man, your Highness," she said, bowing low._

"_Please, I don't want to be treated as a prince. I escaped the palace so that I could just be me, not the rigid prince my mother wishes me to be."_

"_Can you not convince her that you are who you are and nothing can change you?" The prince laughed._

"_You obviously don't know my mother! She is almost as bad as a dragon! You do have a point though. Nothing can change me." His eyes clouded over and he turned from her. "If only I could change. Prince Matthew, the hard and uncaring prince." He turned to Belle. "I don't want to be like that, but I have fallen into that description and have very little hope of fixing it." Belle sighed._

"_Well, Prince Matthew, the way I see it there are only two things you can do." Matthew focused on her intently. "You can either try to loosen up, find a little spare love for your people, or live with it. I would prefer the first choice, but that's just me." Matthew laughed._

"_I would rather try the first one as well." Belle smiled and said,_

"_Let me help. First, what is your favorite color?" Matthew raised an eyebrow but answered,_

"_Dark blue, yours?" They bounced questions back and forth this way for a long time. They were sad when it was time to go their separate ways again. Two rather different people, two new friends, one dream. The dream of being who they are and not who people saw them as._

_ Matthew opened his eyes and knew he was dreaming. He was human and in his room, which was exactly as it had been a few days before the curse. Ears straining for any sounds, the prince made his way to the royal stables. He arrived without incident and quickly and silently saddled his golden brown and black stallion, Black Fire, and rode out. The wind in his hair felt wonderful, but he refrained from whopping in joy until he was a safe distance from the palace. He flew like an arrow from a bow through the fields and into the forest. He broke free of the trees and into a clearing, where a young girl stood by her horse. "You are an amazing horse-man, your Highness," she said, bowing low._

"_Please, I don't want to be treated as a prince. I escaped the palace so that I could think free from my pressing obligations for a bit," Matthew heard himself say. He mentally shook his head. He was in a dream! Of course he couldn't always have control over what he said. Finished with his silent berating, he turned his attention to what the woman, who looked a lot like Belle, was saying._

"_Can you not convince people to let you have a bit of a break?" The prince laughed._

"_You obviously don't know my mother! She is almost as bad as a dragon!" His eyes clouded over and he turned from her. "If only I could change. Prince Matthew, the hard and uncaring prince." He turned to the girl and said, "I don't want to be like that, but I have fallen into that description and have very little hope of fixing it." The girl shook her head, appearing rather sad._

"_Well, Prince Matthew, the way I see it there are only two things you can do." Matthew focused on her intently. "You can either try to loosen up, find a little spare love for your people, or live with it. I would prefer the first choice, but that's just me." Matthew laughed._

"_I would rather try the first one as well." She smiled and said,_

"_Let me help. First, what is your favorite color?" Matthew raised an eyebrow but answered,_

"_Dark blue, yours?" They bounced questions back and forth this way for a long time. They were sad when it was time to go their separate ways again. Two rather different people, two new friends, one dream. The dream of being who they are and not who people saw them as._

Belle jerked awake and looked about the room she was in. It was the same as she had left it. The walls were solid, sturdy gray stone with only a few cracks here and there. A washstand stood against the right wall, a chair and a small desk were against the foot of the bed against the left wall, and a wardrobe faced the door. However, it was no ordinary wardrobe; it was a seamstress. This had been her room before the spell had been cast and so she refused to more from it. Belle made her way to the dinning room, but before she got there, she asked Elizabeth what her half brother's name was.

"Matthew," the princess said before she whisked off for some food. Belle walked into the dinning hall and sat down. She was so absorbed in her musings that she didn't notice when Matthew sat down next to her.

"It will be Christmas soon. Will you be throwing a party for the servants, Belle?" She jumped, screaming and flailing her arms about, nearly falling off the bench when she heard his voice by her ear. "Quite a spectacular spaze, might I know the cause?" he asked, calm on the outside but grinning on the inside.

"You, sir, are the cause," Belle said, punching him in the forearm. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she said quickly, unsure what had caused her to react that way. Matthew just blinked, but on the inside he was grinning from ear to ear and saying, 'that's OK, you can hit me anytime you want. Just don't punch me to hard.' Belle quickly finished her breakfast. As she was leaving, she turned and said, "I think a party is a wonderful idea. I just didn't think you would want one, considering what happened at the last party you attended, dear Prince." And with that she left. The whole hall had heard her last statement, as well as witnessed the previous exchange. The older servants shared a private wink or look and continued on with their work a bit more cheerfully. As Christmas inched closer, the castle showed signs of the preparation for a party. It was to be the first one in eight years. The reading of the queen's will didn't even register as a party to the servants. Everyone was excited and hummed Christmas songs as they worked. Belle even heard a snippet of song from the west wing. Matthew couldn't understand how Belle made him feel. He felt like he had around his parents, yet slightly different and heavily muted. Five weeks before the party, Matthew was walking down the hall, trying to work out his feelings, when he found himself walking into his room. When he got there Belle was there, and about to touch the rose!

"Get out!" he bellowed, the beast in him taking over. Belle screeched and fled. She didn't stop until she was at the gate. There she untethered Phillip and set out. Matthew felt guilty when he regained control of himself and so he went after her. '_Oh I hope it's not to late!'_ he thought as he raced into the woods after her, '_I'm sorry, it's not really me. Please don't go to far.'_

Belle glanced around her, nothing but featureless white snow. A wolf howled somewhere in the distance. _'Great, just great. I have the guy I think is really Prince Matthew __Darien Tavagonio of Argonia, and that I kinda like, _roar_ at me, then I have all these household objects asking me to stay, and now, _now_, I have wolves closing in on me. _Could_ this day get _any_ better?' _As it turns out, it could. The wolves were closing in, and as Phillip reared to try and get away, his reins got caught on a branch, tugging them out of Belle's grip and casting her to the ground. Just when she thought all was lost, Matthew crashed through the brush and fought off the wolves. The fight was a flurry of fur, arms, legs, and flashes of teeth and claws. When it was over, all that was left before Belle was churned and bloody snow, and a heap of slowly rising and falling thick brown fur. Belle untangled Phillip and led him over to Matthew.

"Can you hear me?" she asked. The heap didn't respond. "Guess not," Belle answered herself. She somehow managed to heave him onto Phillip and led them back to the castle.

"Oh my!" cried Mrs. Potts when she saw her master upon the back of Belle's old draft horse. "What happened child?" she asked.

"Wolves," was all that Belle said. She maneuvered him into his chair. By this time he had recovered enough to complain.

"Hey, that hurts!" he bellowed as she lowered him into the chair and began to clean his numerous cuts.

"If you would stop wiggling trying to get comfortable it would hurt less."

"Humph."

"Baby," Belle mumbled quietly.

"I heard that!" he roared.

"Bully."

"Heard that too," he commented.

"Thank you for saving my life," Belle said, switching the subject so quickly that Matthew was startled into silence for a few minutes.

"You're welcome, but if you hadn't run away this wouldn't have happened," he said after he recovered.

"If you hadn't bellowed at me I would have stayed."

"You shouldn't have been in my room."

"You should control your temper better, it could get you in some serious trouble, especially with my father."

"Would you two quit it?" asked one of the servants as Matthew opened his mouth to retort.

"Quit what?" they asked in perfect unison, their faces showing fake innocence. The servants glanced at each other and smiled, as best they could. After that, Belle was able to finish cleaning him up in peace. The next morning, the dinning hall was abuzz with the new developments with the relationship between Belle and the master.

"Have you noticed that she's not as scared of him now? She talks to him almost like an equal," one would say, and another would say,

"Should we tell her he's the crown prince and likes to be treated as such?"

"No!" someone else would call. "They need this if they're going to break the spell. And besides, she already knows he's the prince and addresses him as such when it suits her. Telling her anything about the master will only damage what they have." Belle smiled to herself and crept away. That day she started working without a proper breakfast. Matthew was walking down the corridor and he heard Belle's voice rise then fall.

"I'm sorry," he heard as he moved closer, "I just haven't eaten yet so I'm a little edgy." _ 'Ah-Ha!' _he thought, _'That's how I can show my thanks for her help, and my sorrow over losing my temper in my room.' _He walked over and asked her if she would like him to bring something for her. "Why, yes, that would be wonderful. Do you think you could manage some bacon and toast?"

"Yes," said Matthew, relieved, "I believe I can do that." As he walked away, he heard her say,

"Maybe he is Prince Matthew, he just doesn't remember how he should act. I hope I can help him with that." Matthew smiled to himself. It was going better than he had thought it would. When he came back with the requested bacon and toast, along with eggs and a glass of milk, she was surprised that not only had he brought it himself but he went beyond what she had asked for.

"Thank you! This is wonderful!" she said, taking the platter to a window and sitting. "Come sit with me," she invited. Matthew was taken aback, no-one had ever talked to him like that, with gratitude and gentleness, besides his mother. He smiled and accepted. "I would like to say that you are not what you first appeared," Belle said, hoping he would tell her some about himself. She was not disappointed, it just took a few minutes to get to those topics.

"A horrible Beast?" Belle chuckled.

"A cruel and harsh man who only looks out for himself. But of course you did seem to be a monster. I know you are neither, now that I've been around you for a while." She peeked at him from over her milk glass. His face was sad, as sad as it could look.

"I am afraid that you are wrong about me, Belle." She put her glass down with a sharp clack.

"Don't you ever let me catch you saying that! It seems to me that you have convinced yourself that you are as horrible as all that fur and teeth make you look. What is inside is what dictates who you are." He looked at her, desperately wanting to accept what she said as truth, but the beast inside his head was at war with his true self, that side of him that had been repressed for far to long and was now growing. He yelled and fell to the ground while clucking his head.

"I feel like there is a beast in my head. It's making me do things I don't want to do," he said. He looked up at her, his eyes pleading, and said, "Please, help me." Belle reached for him just as he screamed, his eyes going wild. He knew he would hurt her if she touched him, so he ran.

"I want to help. I just don't know how," Belle said to the empty hallway, her hand still outstretched. She went to the kitchen, where Elizabeth had decided she would be of most use seeing as she was almost the only one there with hands. "Elizabeth!" Belle cried, her eyes filled with concern.

"What?" the startled princess asked, wondering why Belle was in such a state.

"Your brother asked me for help just as he fell to the ground. When I went to see if he was alright he ran!" Elizabeth swallowed. Hard.

"Did he mention anything before he asked for help?"

"Yes, he said that there was a beast in his head. He said it was making him do things he didn't want to do. Sounded a bit like he was blaming it."

"He wasn't," the princess said with a note of finality.

"He wasn't?"

"That beast must have been introduced the day when he first started to give me grief. He managed to block it off a bit, slow its growth, but it must have taken hold the day his mother died. When the enchantress cast her spell she must have woken up my brother, the boy I loved dearly, enough for him to feel the effects of a split personality. Belle, you were talking with the side of him that had been repressed." Elizabeth leaned in closer. "You have brought that part of him back stronger than ever. You have made him start to grow back into what he was, and what he should have been." Belle stared into the shining eyes of her princess and dear friend. A smile broke out onto her face.

"Nice. Do you think he's listening?" Elizabeth shrugged.

"Only if he has Mother's mirror." Belle's smile grew.

"Than this is for him, if he is listening," she whispered. Louder she said, "Matthew reminds me of my brother, minus the rivalry between him and Harrison Gaston that is!" Matthew sat up. She knew he was watching, but how? Who was her brother? Who was Harrison Gaston? He knew time would tell, it almost always did.

"How dose he seem like your Daniel?" Elizabeth asked, truly curious.

"He is always acting in accordance with an inner moral code," Belle answered. Elizabeth was confused.

"Really?" Matthew had to agree with his sister. Really? He had an inner moral code? Why was the name Daniel so familiar?

"Yes. I recognized it while we sat together after he brought me breakfast. Before he fell to the ground he was perfectly fine, and remarkably like my brother, Daniel Marcos Ivnio." Matthew was shocked and amazed, and completely calm. It fit, somehow, with the man he had tossed in the dungeon and the aura of calm confidence Belle had. He chuckled to himself. Of course the master had escaped the spell. But something was not quite right, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"He must have forgotten much of his life here..."

"He knows nothing of war or fighting, besides what he has had to learn on the fly while fighting Harrison," Belle cut in, the look on her face showing what she thought about that fact. Matthew put the mirror down to think on what he had witnessed, and heard. He had not heard Belle ask if he had a way to listen to them, nor his sister respond. He was glad that his sister had something to do, and that she had become friends with Belle. He smiled, not realizing that the inner beast he had been fighting with had been beaten, and had been getting easier to beat.

Later, Matthew was watching Belle walk her horse in the snow when Cogsworth and Lumière hopped up next to him.

"I feel so strange, like I've never felt before. I want to do something for her. Ideas please?" Cogsworth started to list unsatisfactory things, then Lumière said,

"It should be something that sparks her interest. I know, the library! She seems like someone who loves books." Matthew agreed. He went and started to clean it up himself since he didn't want Belle to know about it just yet. He loved the physical work and spent a long time in there. At first it was just to clean it, then it was to clean and read. He smiled to himself as he worked. If only that enchantress could see him now; there had been a time he would have considered it beneath him to do this. The library was ready by Christmas, and Matthew was itching to show it to Belle. The day came but Matthew just couldn't find a way to join the party. So, he watched his servants have fun at their Christmas party from his position leaning against the door post. Belle walked up to him and asked him to follow her. Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed his arm and hauled him away. When she stopped pulling, Matthew found himself staring at a beautiful painting. Belle was in it, and so was he. There was just one thing that made him twitch, even though it was masterful. It seemed as if their roles were replaced. Belle was distorted and monster like where as Matthew was the prince he had been. There were two pictures on one canvas, and one picture had just Belle, over her head were the words, 'Never come Close to Me'. The other one had both of them. Matthew was holding the Monster Belle close and the words, 'I Will Never let You Go' scrolled above it in beautiful calligraphy.

"It's beautiful. Why are you giving me this?" asked Matthew.

"I feel like this sometimes, and when I think of you, or who you were, I get the strength to carry on. You have suffered enough, this is to help you through your trails, to show you as the comforter." She smiled and said, "This is my present to you, to show you the 'prince-charming-who-saves-the-girl' side I know you have." She stretched up and kissed his cheek. "Merry Christmas," she said with a winsome smile, heading inside for a glass of cinnamon eggnog. Matthew felt his cheeks heating and followed her. When he caught up to her he took her arm and said,

"Belle, there's something I want to show you." He led her to the doors of the library. Once there, he asked her to close her eyes, which she did. He went in and opened the drapes, which he had changed to a dark red that really went well with the new coat of paint. Then he led her to the center of the room and told her to open her eyes. Her reaction to the splendor and vastness of the library was most satisfying. She gasped, turned around three times, and then ran and hugged him. He smiled and said,

"I'm glad you like it." Belle gave a disbelieving noise and replied,

"I have no words to describe my pleasure." Before she said anything else Matthew said,

"This is my present to you. You gave my the labor of your hands and I give you the labor of mine." Belle whipped around to face him. _'Dashiria did good work on that dress, it fits wonderfully and looks gorgeous.'_

"You built this?" She watched him as his eyes grew large, and then as he started to laugh.

"I most certainly did not. I only fixed it up and cleaned it out. And I must say that it was wonderful to do something with my hands, for once." Belle shook her head and wandered off to explore her own little haven. He decided it was time to go to his room, so he said his good byes to Belle and his servants, and headed off. Then a thought hit him and he went to his old drawing room. When he got there, he grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill. Dipping the nib in ink, he began to write to his sister.

_From __Matthew __Darien Tavagonio, Prince of Argonia, son of Peter Darien Tavagonio, King of Argonia, Master of Tavagonia castle,_

_ To Elizabeth Nina Tavagonio, Princess of Argonia, daughter of Artemus Clara Tavagonio, Mistress of Norvia castle,_

_ Greetings._

_ There is a girl here at the castle. She is Isabelle, I'm almost sure of it. She calls herself Belle, but she knows who I am. She KNOWS, Elizabeth. I feel strange when I think about her, when I see her, when I talk to her. Elizabeth, I feel like she's gotten under my skin, I can't stop thinking of her. I think I know now how Father felt about Mother. Elizabeth, the day I shut my gates, you told me all I needed to do was write to you and you would come. I know you came to a castle in the forest a few months back, but what you don't know is that it is the same castle you grew up in. The night I locked up, an enchantress came here and asked for shelter from a huge storm that had blown up. She was disguised as an old woman of course. She would have had first class treatment if I had known who she was. I turned her away two times. After that, she turned into her true form and placed a powerful spell on the whole castle and its grounds, along with all who live here. It can only be broken if I can learn to love and can gain love in return, which will be tricky seeing as she turned me into a horrible, terrifying, beast. It has been almost four years, and now Belle is here. I have conflicting feelings about her. I need you to accept that I am still your brother and that I need your help Elizabeth,_

_ Wishing you the best of Holiday wishes,_

_ Matthew_

Matthew sat back and looked at the letter. It outlined his predicament perfectly, and it seemed to say more to him than it actually had on the page. He stepped outside and asked one of the servants to get it to his sister's hands, no matter where she was. He went back to his room and stared at the rose, then he noticed a package. It was a mirror from Belle. He almost threw it, but something seemed to stay his hand. He set it next to his mother's mirror, face down. He didn't know, but it was enchanted to show what he was inside, and it had been Belle's mother's. Under the mirror was a book. He took it to the fire side and began to read. It seemed to be his story, only from Belle's mind and point of view. He loved it. It was nearly impossible to put aside, even for a moment. He smiled at the antics of her brother and the town children. He cried at her mother's death. He was amazed at how close to the truth she guessed.

Maurice walked into an unused room and over to the bed. He looked at it and thought that it was a bit fresher than it should be. Suddenly, memories flooded his mind. He saw the girl he was told to look after as if his she was his daughter walking toward him. He saw his son standing behind her as she looked at books. He saw Belle's face as she looked at her 'older brother'. Belle teaching Daniel how to do the chores with her, seeing that he didn't know how to split the work. After the flood was over, he rushed out into the living room, where Daniel did the paper work.

"Daniel," he said. When his son didn't turn he said it more forcefully. "Daniel!" Daniel jerked a little and turned to his father, an unspoken question in his eyes. "He has your sister, he has Belle," Marice said, rather calmly. Daniel looked at his father, confused and worried.

"Who's Belle?" he asked. "And who has her?"

"The beast has her, and you have treated her as your sister for eight years," Marice said, again, calmer than would have been thought seeing as his son had no idea what he was talking about. Daniel shook his head and said,

"The farm hand's name is Isabelle, not Belle." Maurice stalked toward his son, shaking his head in denial. "I know it's hard father, but it's true." Maurice shook his head harder, a fire ignited in his eyes.

"No, it's not. It may be true that she is not your sister by blood, but I looked after her and you brought her here." He was moving quicker now, the force of his emotions threatening to boil over.

"Father, I only met Isabelle five months ago."

"I went to the old back room. The sheets had been changed about a month before Christmas, unless I miss my guess. It was Belle, she had been sleeping there."

"Father, it was a month before Christmas the farm hand stayed here for a day or two before she went missing. She'll come back soon and clear all this up, don't stress about it. She's only at her friend's house. She's not worth your worry."

"I'm going to get her back and no-one is going to tell me she is not worth it," Maurice said, his voice a steely whisper, and with that, he left for the tavern to get help. When he walked into the common room and asked the people to help him, they all laughed. None laughed harder than Harrison Gaston, the man who wished to wed Belle. So, Maurice went out to get her back on his own. Meanwhile, Belle was exploring the castle, when she came upon an old cannon.

"Just like one of the cannons Sir Francis Drake used in his raid of the Spanish fort _Castillo de San Marcos_." It just so happened that Matthew was walking around the corner and heard her.

"It is, indeed, one he used in that raid, Belle." She jumped half a foot in the air and half a foot away from him. He raised an eyebrow, feeling almost human again. "Is something wrong, Isabelle?" he asked, the name coming off his tongue without a thought.

"No, just that my name is Belle," she replied. Matthew nodded and said,

"Yes, of course. I do not know what I called you that."

"I do," Belle said. Matthew cocked his head. "It is because I remind you of her and you want her to be the one to break the spell."

"How do you know that?" he asked, wary.

"I am not sure, and for another matter, I felt like answering you as if you where a prince I've been seeing in my dreams. I'm wasting your time. I need to go see to the curtains in the east hall. It's depressing to me to see such a nice place in such poor condition." With that she fled down the hall. Matthew wondered at it, and then he saw his reflection, saw himself as others saw him, and his weeping floated through the corridors and down the halls. The servant stairs and walkways seemed to make footsteps sound like sobs. To Belle, the whole castle was reflecting Matthew's mood as it echoed sobs with every breath and gloom with every footfall. She walked up to him that night at dinner and said,

"I'm sorry for whatever impression you got in that hall with the cannon. I wasn't..." before she could get farther, Matthew said, without lifting his head,

"I have been cruel all my life. I have always been selfish, and a bit of a show off. That is the reason I am the way I am now. You are the first in a very long time to show me what true kindness is. For that I thank you, yet I feel I must ask a question of you." He lifted his head and said, "How did the prince introduce himself in your dream?" Belle was taken aback. She had expected a very different response. After she recovered, she said,

"Prince Matthew the hard and uncaring."

"I had a dream where I said that to a girl who looked a lot like you. I was wondering..."

He could tell she was thinking exactly what he was. They had had the same dream, and they had seen each other.

"I want to finish the thought I was on before you cut me off, if it's alright," Belle said, hoping he wouldn't think her to bold. He smiled a little and nodded. "I was not running from you, I was running from my feelings."

"What do you mean?" Matthew asked. He could feel the beast inside him was interested as well and took that as a good omen.

"I wanted to find out how I feel about you. Obviously you got the idea that I was running in fright. I just wanted you to know I was afraid of how I felt, not of you." He laughed.

"Is that all? I thought it would be some long, convoluted thing." She giggled.

"It could have been." Belle looked in his eyes and said, "You're just easy to talk to. You don't make my tongue get all knotted up just by looking at me." Matthew could feel the beast, made passive by her speech, slowly get riled up.

"I am glad, but you may want to stay away from me." Belle put her hand on his furry cheek and said,

"I want to help you, but you have to let me!" Matthew sighed, found that he had beat the beast back down, and said,

"You give me the strength I need to beat the monster in my head down. That is enough, for now." Belle sighed and slumped, she wished he would stop being so stubborn and see that she cared. He laughed and lifted her head from it's defeated posture, and said, "Never let your anger rule you. If that red monster conquers you, you are no better than a grizzly. Let your kindness and mercy override rage and pain and rule your actions." Belle laughed and said,

"Good advice, wonder why you don't listen to this half of you more often." He opened his mouth, ready to retort hotly, and then stopped, eyes wide as he realized that she was right. He should take his own advice.

"OK, you got me there. Don't get cocky though, it may not happen again." Belle just laughed. Two days later, Matthew was confused about what had happened to Belle. She wasn't in the castle and Phillip was still in the stable, which was cleaner than he had seen it in about ten years. Laughter rung through the air. It was coming from the pond. Matthew wandered over and saw Belle, slipping and sliding all over the ice. He was about to call for her to stop, when he noticed that she stayed on her feet. She saw him then, standing confused at the edge of the pond.

"I'm ice skating. Surely you have witnessed this done previously?" Matthew considered her claim, and had a memory of a beautiful girl, about Belle's size, skating on that very pond. He nodded.

"It was a very long time ago." Belle smiled and drug him out onto the ice. She then proceeded to remind him how to skate. "You are wonderful Belle." She laughed

"As are you, Prince Matthew." Belle was forced to laugh again as Matthew fell spectacularly and crashed right through the ice, screaming like a schoolboy the whole way down! "Would you like some help?" she asked, assured that she was right in her claims. He snarled at her, and then thought of how he must look, and burst out laughing.

"No, I do have some form of dignity to preserve." He hauled himself out of the pond and made his way to the door of the castle. Belle skated over to her normal shoes and replaced her skates before hurrying after Matthew.

"You need a bath and a hair cut," she said, much to his discomfort. Belle laughed at Matthew's mutterings and pushed him behind a screen and ordered him to undress and get into the tub. Grabbing a comb and a pair of shears, Belle went to work. After a few minutes Belle was satisfied with her prince's appearance and allowed him the privacy he wished.

'_How dose she do it?' _he wondered. '_She can make me do practically anything. If she asked me to wear a tutu I just might do it. Just to see her smile, to make her eyes sparkle! She really dose have beautiful eyes. And her hair! It has a certain glossy sheen and moves so smoothly.' _He sighed._ 'What is this? How dose she really make me feel? I am so confused. Mother made me feel this way, occasionally. That was so long ago, I don't know if this is the same feeling! Her voice. It cuts through the screen of rage and sorrow, and pain. That voice can calm me even in the midst of a mad, animal-like frenzy! How I enjoy that voice. I just wish I knew what this feeling was called! I want to be able to give her the life she deserves, but how can I if I don't know what exactly that entails? So many questions without answers. I swear I will be driven mad by the sheer number!'_ His thoughts turned from actual words to images of Belle. Her hair hung loosely from a bun and her hoop skirt swayed as she moved with measured grace. The image flashed and became the first time he had met Belle. Her hair was wet and hanging in strings where it wasn't plastered to her head. Little droplets formed on her eyelashes and the cold rain sapped the color from her face. Her perfect lips glowed cherry red as they pulled back in that pained smile, her dress clinging wetly to her flesh. Another flash and he saw her as she skated across the ice. Her hair pulled up in a secure bun as she glided around. Yet another flash and her face floated in front of him, smiling brightly. He sighed and climbed out of the tub, picking up a towel that she had thoughtfully laid out. He washed his clothes in the sudsy water and rung them out before putting them on. The servants were amazed at the difference a hair cut and a bath could make. Matthew made his way to his favorite sitting room, and found Belle sitting cross legged in front of the fire.

"Come sit," she said. It was neither command nor request, it was an invitation. He smiled and moved to sit next to the object of his confusion. "I love this book. Did you leave it on that desk in my room?" He looked at the book she held out to him.

"I don't believe I did." She sighed, then brightened.

"Would you like me to read it to you?" At his nod, Belle turned back to the beginning and began to read. "Once, long ago, there were two kingdoms. One had a large farming population, the other, a large mining operation. When the prince of the mining kingdom disappeared the king, his father, blamed his counterpart. The resulting war damaged more than the ground and hearts of the people, it hurt the trade agreements. The kingdoms were reliant on the other for food and ore and when that balance was thrown off, it could only end in tears. On a small farm, far from the fighting, the young prince was cared for after being rescued from bandits fleeing from the mines. After two years, he began to call the family his own.

'Mother, I'm going to help Father,' the prince called to the kind farmer's equally kind wife.

'Be back by dark, Alex,' the woman called. The boy agreed and rushed out to help his adoptive father..." She read until her voice was going, and then Matthew took over. They were almost to the end of the book. During the time Belle read, the prince lived on the farm until he turned thirteen, then he entered the army. Alex climbed to the rank of captain by the time he was twenty. Matthew then read the prince through the very gates of the opposing king's castle. After the prince and the king found out they are father and son, they headed to the neighboring kingdom. Once there, King Nathaniel gave the prince his daughter as a reward for the services he had done for both kingdoms.

"Do you know why I love this story?" Belle asked softly as the cover fell from her own prince's paw. Matthew shook his head. "The prince reminds me of my brother."

"Belle, I must ask you, do you feel that this place is familiar? As if you had seen it many years ago?" She smiled.

"Maybe, if it was once a different color!" Matthew laughed as well, but couldn't shake this feeling he had that Belle was Isabelle. He didn't tell her it had been a different color. Belle didn't tell him she knew it had once been a lot different. Neither wanted to think of the changes that had come since the day the Prince met Isabelle. Neither wanted to express their suspicions.


	6. The Fight to the Finish

Disclaimer: When was the last disclaimer I posted for this fic? Eah, best that I add one hear anyway. So... plot twists, bunny fluff, and the occasional brother/sister banter are the only things I'm claiming. The rest... you've all watched the Disney movie right? Yeah, that's were the rest came from. Those people get the credit for anything that's from the movie. So yeah.

A/N: I love creative license. It might well have been abused in this fic. Please, enjoy my – slight – madness. That is all.

The Fight to the Finish

Later on in that week after Christmas, Matthew stumbled upon Belle reading in the library. Instead of him making an excuse and fleeing, or Belle saying she didn't want to waste his time, they sat together and talked. The strange and indescribable feeling they shared grew stronger every day. Matthew would find her in various places, her day's work done or taking a break from the furious battles she waged all around the castle, reading. He would sit beside her and they would talk about the book or what they had been doing that day, always happy to be together. One day, after looking all over the castle with no luck, Belle looked in Matthew's room to see him staring out at the last untended courtyard, the one under his balcony. She asked him to walk with her and managed to get his mind on brighter things than his fate. She found him there many times, and sometimes she left him to his thoughts and sometimes she took him away from the dark and overgrown yard. Belle walked into the kitchen one night and Elizabeth knew she wanted to talk about Matthew. "Elizabeth, he seems like a completely different person! He no longer has drastic mood swings, he doesn't roar, he doesn't even treat me like a prisoner. He treats me like a visiting noble woman, aside from leaving me in the servant's quarter and allowing me to clean," Belle said, sinking into an obliging chair. Elizabeth smiled.

"He is letting you do what you want. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you slept in the royal suite, even though he never would have done so." Belle snorted.

"I would never move into your Father's bedroom, not unless Matthew and I got married and crowned by the people, which won't happen." Elizabeth raised an unbelieving eyebrow.

"You sound like you don't care for my brother," the princess said, her words carefully toneless.

"I don't want him to destroy himself with self-loathing, that's all," Belle said, looking away from the faintly amused looking Elizabeth, who grunted. "Even if I did care about him, I don't think he cares about me." Another grunt from the princess made Belle spin around to face her as she declared that she did not love Matthew when she was cut off by Matthew himself coming to visit the kitchen.

"I was just going to see how things were in here. I had no idea we had a guest," the man-beast said, looking, without moving, as though he were about to leave. Elizabeth threw up her hands and exclaimed in disbelief.

"You yourself greeted me when I got here!" she said, having completed her exclaiming. Matthew smiled to himself. This was kinda fun; he should do it more often.

"Did I really? I must have been dream walking," he said, a teasing tone he had forgotten he knew he could use coming easily to him. The princess rounded on him.

"You, sir, are acting like a young prince I used to know. He was my half brother, his name was Matthew. Was he a friend of yours?" Matthew stopped laughing to himself. How had he forgotten that she had suspected that he was her brother?

"I knew him," the shaggy haired man-beast said. Belle decided she wanted some of the fun, so she said,

"I think you are having to much fun Master Matthew, perhaps you should just tell us what you want." He looked at her and she sighed. She then walked over to the cupboard and pulled out a rather squat teapot. "Mrs. Potts? Would you kindly tell the Master how things have been going down here in the kitchen?" The tea pot, which suddenly had eyes and a mouth, said,

"Of course deary, whatever you want," and hopped over to the prince, who was a little shaken that the kindly sou chief would actually agree to talk with him so readily. Belle smiled.

"She has been wanting to get out and talk with someone other than your sister, the staff, or me. You should get all the information you want, if you ask the right questions." Matthew bowed and swept out the door, carrying Mrs. Potts, who was chattering away quite happily, in his paw. After all that; Mrs. Potts could talk for hours, even after relaying what she had set out to say, Matthew felt he needed to tell Belle how he felt about her. Of course, Mrs. Potts might have dropped a few hints. And Lumiere. And Cogsworth. And Dashieria. And half the castle. Shaking his great, shaggy head, he decided to have a nice, formal dinner with Belle to do just that. After they were done eating, Matthew and Belle danced to the sound of an enchanted orchestra for a little while before he took her out onto the balcony. He hadn't realized how much he had nearly forgotten. The size of his own hands surprised him! As the music swirled around his head, he remembered his old grace and managed to mimic the music's pattern.

"Belle? Do you like being here?" he asked, glad that his voice didn't waver with the fear he felt coiling around his heart and squeezing his chest.

"Yes, but I do miss my father, and my brother." Belle's face was shuttered, like she didn't want Matthew to see the pain she felt being separated from her family. She didn't want him to see the pain she felt, being bound by invisible chains. The chains of honor were weighing rather heavily on her slender shoulders just then. Matthew though for a moment, then had an idea.

"Come with me," he said softly as he led Belle to his room and held up his mother's magic mirror. "This will show you whatever you want." Belle took it and said,

"I would like to see my father, please." The surface flashed green and when it cleared, there was her father, trudging through the snow. She could tell he was trying to get to her. As she watched, he fell and started to cough. "He needs me, he's sick." She looked at Matthew and her eyes asked him to let her go, pleading as loudly as if she were on her knees, begging with tears streaming down her fair cheeks. Matthew looked sadly at the rose, which picked that moment to let a petal fall.

"You have my permission to go. Yet, I would love for you to come back. Bring your family if you wish." Belle looked at him, her eyes shining, and said,

"Thank you, I never thought you could be this nice. Just goes to prove that you can't judge by first impressions." After she left, Cogsworth walked in and commented,

"Well, it looks like you have your father's charm."

"I let her go." Cogsworth was flabbergasted.

"Why? The two of you were so close to breaking the curse!" Matthew chuckled mirthlessly.

"My dear friend, that's just it. I let her go because she needed to go; because I love her." When the others heard this, there were exclamations galore.

"After all this time, he's learned to love, even gotten so close to getting love in return, and has let it go," Mrs. Potts lamented. Meanwhile, Harrison and his goons had convinced the owner of the local asylum to take Belle's father away. All they needed was for Belle and her father to come home. Daniel had given them an account of his father's departure, which helped with the convincing. The young man was worried about his father's health and had no reason to distrust the old, gray man who ran the institute. Belle, many miles from the plotting Harrison and her worried brother, found her father a few miles from the castle. She knew that Matthew's home was closer, but she also knew that her father would probable have a heart attack if he woke up there. She somehow got him on Phillip's back and then made it back to the house. What Belle didn't know was that Matthew had stashed the mirror in her bag, and what he didn't know was that Chip, Mrs. Potts' son, had stowed himself away in her bag. Belle got her father to their house and as she crossed the threshold, Daniel said he'd go get help. As she maneuvered her father under his blankets he stirred, his hand groping for something. Her name was on his lips.

"Father, it's me, Belle," the young woman said, overjoyed that her father was finally awake. Maurice turned his head and looked up from his bed.

"Belle, I went to go get you, but I must have blacked out." Belle laughed, and then her bag gave a jump. They both turned and watched as Chip hopped out of the bag, the mirror coming with him. "Well well, looks like you've got a stowaway."

"Chip? What are you doing here?"

"Belle, please come back. The master was so happy with you around, he even slipped the magic mirror in your bag so that you can never forget him." Belle took a quick breath, snatched the mirror from under Chip; effectively silencing him, and said,

"Show me Daniel!" When the surface cleared, they saw Daniel talking to Harrison Gaston. "I knew he was taking too long! How could he? He's leading them straight here, with representatives of the asylum!" Sure enough, five minutes later, they showed up. Belle stormed out the door and screamed at them, "How dare you come here, and with that drafty wagon! My father is sick and needs his rest and here you are a-knocking on our door to take him away! Off with you, off with you all!" Daniel stepped up behind her, took her arms-which she had been flailing and were the reason he came behind her-and said,

"Isabelle, you're hallucinating. That is not your father, your father died years ago. I remember you telling me that yourself, the day you came here." Belle stopped struggling, making Daniel release his hold, turned and punched him in the face.

"There may be some truth in what you say, but I love him like a father and nothing you say now can change my mind," she said, her back facing him, and as she was walking away, she turned her head and said over her shoulder, "And, FYI, saying things like that to an emotional female only makes her fight harder for the ones she loves." Daniel slumped further into the snow, disgusted with himself. '_How could I have been so blind? I love her as my own flesh and blood yet I have just gone and started the process of ripping her apart from the inside out.' _As he lay there, he saw a carriage waiting, he turned and hugged his mother good bye. Years were flashing in front of his eyes. He was being trained so hard at the Academy that he was asleep before his head even hit the pillow. He was ordered to the front after completing his training. Cannons roared and gunshots echoed in his ears. He was a lieutenant, helping to work the troops into order. He advanced to captain in the war. He heard fighting. Swords flashed and the ring of metal on metal filled the air. He could smell blood and smoke. He heard his voice, ringing with authority, calling to the soldiers to hold their line. His vision cleared and he saw Belle fighting with Harrison, and giving as good as she got too. Daniel knew that he had to protect Belle, knew that if he could command soldiers on the front lines then he could get her to safety.

"Let her go!" Daniel called, rising to his full height, which was an impressive six foot four. Gaston turned, dropping Belle, defeated, in the snow. The look on Gaston's face was enough to make Daniel chuckle. "Have I surprised you, Misuser Gaston? Well that's just fine by me! Well, now that Belle is safe, forget about my father. He's sick and has been since before he went to the tavern. Sorry, guess I left that tidbit out." He could see Harrison was steamed. Of course, the fact that Daniel himself was grinning like a war veteran with a trick up his sleeve could have had something to do with it.

"You led them here. You asked for this. Why are you doing this now?" a weak, but still determined voice asked behind him, venom dripping from the words. Daniel turned to where Belle was pushing herself up and said,

"I love you like a sister. I feel as if you are my own flesh and blood. I simply received a befuddled brain when you left. Allow me this. It cannot fix this gorge I have rent, yet perhaps it can close a little of the distance." Daniel was turning to face him when Gaston kicked them both into the cellar, tossing Maurice in after them. Belle cradled her father's head while Daniel peeked out to see what the men would do next. "They have found a mirror. Why is it showing me? Now he's shouting about Father being an enchanter. He's asked for someone to show him the beast... and hold, whats this? The mirror has turned green... wait! The mirror is showing a monster! Now he's got them singing... wait... SINGING?! Now they're going to march up to the castle in the woods to kill the beast. And... look out!" Before he could elaborate, Maurice's wood chopper came tumbling down the hill. Daniel threw himself away from the door and rolled smoothly to his feet.

"You guys alright down there?" asked Chip as he dangled from a spring. Daniel laughed, scrambled out, and said,

"We're better than alright, we're free!" Belle hopped up next to him and said,

"We have to free the Prince, but first, how did you learn to look like that Daniel?"

"Like what and who is this Prince?" asked Daniel, thoroughly confused.

"Like you have an entire army at your command standing behind you, and the Beast is actually a Prince. I have no time to explain right now, but later I will." Daniel blinked and said,

"Did I really look like that? Must be the strange memories that are coming back. I believe you about the Prince, but now is really not the time to catch up. Lets go!" Belle shook her head at her brother, he always had been a strange on, then a thought popped into her head.

"Wait, Chip, will you stay with father and follow in about an hour?" When Chip nodded she thanked him and took off for the barn. Daniel already had the two horses saddled. They hopped on and rode off. _'Please be alright Matthew, don't let them harm you. I'm on my way, hang in there.' _ Belle knew that their chances of overtaking Harrison Gaston's group were very slim, but she still hoped against hope that Gaston would not find Matthew before she got there. As she galloped though the trees, the rain that had been threatening all day began to pour. Within an hour it had become the thickest rain the country had ever known. The clouds darkened and thunder roared yet the two soaked companions raced on toward the castle where Gaston and his followers were laying siege in order to kill the beast. There was talk that nothing would be done to protect the castle when Lumière had a wonderful idea, which showed how big of an impression an amazing man had left.

Gaston and his men had been met with amazing resistance by the time the two got there. They could hear ringing, clanging, and shrieks echoing inside the marble entrance hall and drifting out and into the soaked pair's ears.

"Sounds like the servants are fighting back," said Belle, smiling at her brother's reaction.

"What kind of people have you been living with?! It sounds as if they're fighting with household objects!" he ranted, after he managed to get his mouth unstuck from the 'open' position. She laughed and said, almost gleefully,

"They are household objects, they're under a spell. But where is Matthew?" She cast about for a sign of his whereabouts. She heard a resounding crack as the head of one of the snarling gargoyles was smashed by a frenzied Harrison. She looked up and saw that Matthew was fighting, or rather being fought by, Harrison Gaston. Belle knew that if he didn't fight back Matthew would fall. She had no idea what she would do, so she decided to call out to Matthew in hopes that he would find the will to fight back. "Matthew!" Belle shouted. She was pleased as she saw Matthew get the strength to fight back, that he knew the look on her face was for him, that the fear in her voice was for him.

"You go to the Prince, I'll take care of this," Daniel said to Belle, motioning to the chaos that still reined in the entrance hall. She thanked him and hurried to Matthew's chambers. When she got there, she let out a gasp. The window was shattered, glass was everywhere, and she could hear Gaston fighting Matthew. She leaned out just as Matthew held Gaston over the edge of the cliff. She hurried out onto the balcony and could only watch as Harrison begged for mercy. Matthew seemed to hear something, for his ears flicked and he set Harrison down and told him to get out.

"Matthew!" she called. He turned and smiled.

"Belle," he said, the relief and love in that one word nearly made Belle blush, but there were more pressing matter. Matthew needed to get off that roof. She was helping him up when Matthew was stabbed in the side. Harrison was yelling for one and all to hear that it was over and Belle was his when Matthew's pain filled thrashings pushed them both to the roof. Belle somehow manged to pull her prince to safety while Harrison slipped and slid, his screams echoing off the rock walls and ringing in the ears of the villagers who were being gathered by Daniel. Matthew's breath was ragged and Belle could feel tears flowing down her cheeks.

"At least I got to see you one more time," he manged to say, even though it was segmented.

"Don't say that! You'll make it though this," Belle said, hoping that her voice wouldn't betray the fear and grief she felt. Losing Matthew would be almost as bad, if not worse, than losing her mother. Matthew chuckled, though it turned into a cough about half way out. He was breathing his last and Belle was beside herself. There was nothing she could do. Nothing except...

Daniel was helping the frightened villagers to stop fighting, and the servants to go away to other parts of the castle so as to let the hysteria fade, when Harrison's screams dashed into the hall and rang in his ears. As they faded, the rock walls and the castle hall acted together to amplify and prolong the sound, he saw the rain turn a multitude of colors and the quick tattoo slowed and began to sound like a blacksmith's hammer on his anvil. He gazed at it blankly for a moment before he fell heavily to the ground, memories flooding his mind yet again.

_Gates loomed above him, a man garbed like a king came out to meet him. "I am ever so glad that you accepted my offer. The men are a bunch of sluggards. I simply cannot do a thing with them!" Daniel looked the king over. He was certainty the kind of man that even soldiers like himself would wave off._

"_Sire, it is an honor and a privilege to come and serve at your marvelous palace. I must admit, it will be nice working here. My father lives in the small town at the foot of the hill." The king laughed._

"_So you took the job hoping that in return I would let you visit your father? Well, it is a small thing you ask. I will gladly give you some breaks so you can slip off down that hill and see your father." Daniel smiled. He knew he would love this jolly king. He met with the fighting men of the castle and had to agree with the king. They were a bunch of sluggards._

"_I had hoped I would not have a need for my war experience but I can see that it is the only way to get you in fighting condition. I shall not settle for anything less than what I ask, and I expect it to be done promptly and in an orderly fashion. I expect to see you here at dawn. Any man not here and in line by the time the cock crows shall answer to me. You are dismissed." Weeks passed, and every day he had to whip several men. Finally, the day came when the men were all up, dressed, and lined up in the front courtyard by the time the cock crowed._

"_Good. You are all working hard to get here on time. This is an improvement." He saw them relax slightly. "But this is no reason to slacken your posture! The work has only just begun!" He heard several groans and allowed himself a small chuckle. "Do not be discouraged men," he said, "you are doing much better. It can only go uphill now." A year passed with the men getting better and better. Daniel woke up one morning and shouted for joy at the thought that he wouldn't have a need to whip anyone that day. The men noted the change in his baring and his voice. That night at dinner they asked him if he was all right. "I am filled with joy this day. For once I have not had to even threaten a single person among the ranks! Keep yourselves at the point where you are, or if you can get better that will be accepted gladly, and you shall have me as a friend, not a taskmaster." The men laughed and decided that maybe the dashing war veteran was a good guy after all. Daniel was suddenly walking out the gate, waving to his friends as he headed home for Christmas. He felt relief at being able to get away from that mad prince and see his father and all his childhood friends. _

_ The magnificent carriage swept up to the gate. _

"_Present arms!" called Daniel, drawing his sword and holding it out in front of his eyes, pointing to the sky. All of the guards who were not on duty inside were lined up in their dress uniforms, their swords flashing in the early morning sun._

"_My! What a reception!" exclaimed the noblewoman as she stepped from the carriage. "The last time I was here, those same men were lounging around the courtyard!"_

"_I assure you, there shall be no such slacking while I am in charge," Daniel said, casting a glare out of the corner of his eye toward his men. The woman saw the look he shot his men and she saw how they cringed at his wrath. _

"_My, you seem to have an iron fist, master... ?_

"_Forgive me, I have forgotten my manners. I am Captain Daniel Marcos Ivino. I am in command of the guard here at the castle of the Royal family." The woman fluttered her fan. "I am also engaged to a marvelous woman who can make anyone cringe at the thought of getting her mad. But if you would please follow me, I will show you to the king," he said quickly, discouraging any thought the woman had about setting up a marriage. There were several more meetings like this, with some slight variations. He skipped a few boring years, during which he got married, had two sons, and attended his wife's funeral. He was sitting at the fountain in the center of the town, the king had given him some time off to mourn his wife, and there he talked with Isabelle and took her home to meet his father. Three years she stayed there as his sister. He had just been given a month off for Christmas when the castle walls darkened and the forest aged ten years before his eyes. _

Daniel, Captain of the Castle Guard, opened his eyes and found himself on the cold hard floor of the castle. Looking around, he saw that the fight was won and that Matthew was no where in sight. He pushed himself up and prepared to run down the halls toward Matthew's chambers. He turned and looked straight at the terrorized villagers.

"I'll be back shortly, if things start to randomly change, don't be afraid. This castle has seen many odd things in its time," he said, his old brisk authority back. Their feeble, almost hysteric, laughter followed him as he fled up the hall and down the corridor to Matthew's room. Yet, they felt no surprise at the change in his voice for they too had witnessed a rush of memories as the enchantress' locks were swept aside.

Elizabeth was working to help the servants that were being herded her way find places where they would not frighten the people, when a letter fluttered from one of the multitude of servants. She picked it up and saw that it was addressed to her in what she knew was her brother's handwriting. She eagerly opened it and read the words he had written to her. As she finished the letter, tears streamed down her cheeks. Those words confirmed everything. Belle was Isabelle, the beast was Matthew, and she was not in some crazy dream. The servants truly were household objects. She ran out into the rain, through the stunned villagers, and laughed at the sky. Isabelle loved her brother Matthew and Daniel had already relived his life. Soon, very soon, the last of the spell would be swept away and her brother would come dashing down the stairs to grab her and swing her around in his joy. Isabelle had awoken her brother and encouraged him to grow up into a good man and stop running from the world. Elizabeth ran laughing out of the castle grounds and danced in a forest glade, her feet flinging rain water and mud about and all over her dress with reckless abandon. She saw the enchantress and recognized her as the woman who had cured her as a child. "You are happy child. Is something marvelous happening in the forest this night?" Elizabeth laughed.

"As if you didn't know. My brother is about to be freed for his curse and Isabelle shall be his wife." Her laughing intensified. "He shall pass this test you have set before him with flying colors. Isabelle has made him grow in ways I never thought possible." She rushed over to the enchantress and tugged her into the wild dance of the princess' joy. The enchantress simply smiled and followed along. Had she not been a dignified magic user, she would have been the one shouting and dancing and dragging the Princess along with her. Casting aside decorum for a moment, she joined Elizabeth wholeheartedly. It was a good day.

On the prince's second to last breath, Belle whispered, "You can't die, I love you to much." The persistent rain suddenly turned a multitude of colors. When it struck the stone it sounded like a blacksmith's hammer striking the anvil. The prince rose in the multi-colored mist left by the magical rain and Belle could only stare as the once cruel beast was turned back into the prince she knew he really was. As he was lowered to the ground, the castle shimmered and reverted to the way it had been before the Enchantress cast her spell. Belle gasped as she felt her strength ebb and she fell forward on top of Matthew as the spell her mother had laid was triggered. If the two had been conscious, they would have noticed the Enchantress appear on the roof and emitting a large blast of light. They also would have noticed that she listened quite carefully for some time before leaving in a shower of brightly glowing, multi-colored sparks, and the fact that Matthew's wound was healed and his shirt mended as if there had never been a tear. In the mean time, the two were having a lovely picnic by the seashore, and watching Daniel who was somehow involved in a spirited game of tag with a bunch of flying seahorses. I must say that Belle and Matthew had some amazing imaginations to come up with stuff like that.

Harrison felt the rain pouring off his back and over his face. His cloths would be ruined for sure, he thought. Lifting his head a little and looking to the left, he saw a steep, slippery incline of granite slabs. He felt a wave of dread wash over him; he would never make it to the top again! When he looked to the right, he felt as if he was looking over the edge of the world. He struggled with his lunch, wining out in the end. Beating his thoughts into order, he decided to wait until the rain was over before attempting the climb back up to where the Beast was. Just as he resolved to wait out the storm on that cold, wet roof, he felt a blow like a hammer on his back. He watched in amazement as the rain became blue and green. There were other colors in that magical rain as well, but green and blue were the most prominent. When the mist left from the rain cleared, he felt as if a veil was lifted from his mind. He looked around and saw that he was in his house, every thing just as before. Everything but him that is. He looked in the mirror and blinked. He saw someone more like Daniel in the glass. Six foot four, average shoulders, and slender arms. Only two differences stood between the two of them being identical; their faces and the fact that Harrison was not as well muscled as Daniel, like he was a scholar or a bard. His head snapped around at the sound of a soft chuckle. "I see you handled the change better than I expected. Honestly, I thought I would be able to hear you from the castle when you found out what I had done to you." Harrison blinked, smiled slightly, and said,

"Why, I ask you, should I scream my head off when it should have been so obvious in the first place?"

"What should have been obvious?" the slightly imposing, but undeniably beautiful woman asked, betraying nothing of her feelings. He chuckled.

"The fact that you were the reason the castle disappeared from the hill. The simple fact that Belle is Isabelle. The blindingly obvious fact that you wouldn't let me get off easy for chasing Isabelle AND beating up the young man you would like to call son, the two young men I should say."

"Two?"

"Yes, two. The Prince and his Captain." The enchantress, for that is who the woman was, smiled and shook her head.

"It seems that my sister was right. Locking away so many memories does lower intelligence." Harrison laughed and laughed.

"It wasn't lowered." The enchantress raised a delicate eyebrow in an unspoken question. "It was tossed in an underwater dungeon and had the key thrown far away. It took us seven years to find it."

"Seven?"

"Yes. My intelligence was lowered the moment Isabelle came. The key got tossed away four days later." Elisa(as I shall now call the enchantress as that is her name)laughed and decided that maybe she should shorten his punishment to a few years instead of the four decades she had been planning on. The two walked to the window and watched as the castle was returned to its rightful place atop the hill. It was quite an impressive sight to witness. Great blocks of white marble materialized out of thin air, large oak doors popped into being, and hedges grew and trimmed themselves into fantastic shapes. Walls of slightly darker marble seemed to grow right out of the ground. Guard houses creaked as the magic replaced them at their posts. Then it was over. Harrison blinked in surprise. It was such a large structure, it should have taken longer to come back.

"Yes, an abrupt reappearance it was," said Elisa, giving the troubled man beside her the uneasy thought that she could read peoples minds. She chuckled and told him he was reading to much into it.

"Seems I have a horrible habit of reading to much into things," Harrison said, his voice much like Daniel's in tone, both solemn and merry at once. Elisa wondered just how much her spells had effected the man. He turned to regard her, a slight smile on his face. "I shall have to work on that, won't I?" Elisa found she couldn't help but laugh. She returned her gaze to the castle and noticed a dark shape rushing to the gates, then pause.

"Go Princess, your brother awaits you," she muttered, casting her thoughts to the young woman. Harrison watched as the figure seemed to square its shoulders and walk slowly toward the castle. He had no doubt that it was indeed the Princess Elizabeth. He had watched her enter the forest the day she had returned from her castle in Norvia.

Elizabeth gasped as she realized that the castle was returning to the hill without her. Not even the mysterious disappearance of the woman she had dragged into her dance was considered in her sudden distress. She dashed out of the forest and up the hill. Even with all her haste, she got there ten minutes after all had been set to rights. She paused, wondering if she should really go in. She heard a voice in her head say, 'Go Princess, your brother awaits you.' So, her mind made up for her, Elizabeth went to her brother's castle. Hoping that Matthew would be awake when she got there, she dragged her feet ever so slightly. The rain swished and swirled about her legs and ankles as she made her way to the door. He hair was plastered to her head and she knew she must be a complete mess, but she was determined to make a grand entrance. Shivers racked her slender form as she made that walk, the one walk she was sure she would remember for years to come. It was cold, wet, terrifying, and completely as she would have imagined it would be when the curse was lifted. She raised her hand and beat upon the door the same way she always had. Never would Elizabeth admit that the sight of her brother's chamberlain was ever as welcome a sight as he was in that moment.

Daniel shook his head at the whole situation as he dashed to his master's room, taking in the changes he was seeing as he went. The walls shimmered and changed to shining white marble, the paintings changed to reveal portraits of previous royals and woodland scenes. Gargoyles changed to angelic figures, the banisters became more elegant and random objects became human. When he got to the balcony, he saw Belle and Matthew both passed out. He turned as he heard a creaking and crackling, fearing an attack. Seeing that it was the high canopied bed repairing itself he walked over to the pair. Picking them up one at a time, he carried them to the bed When he was done, he poked his head out to call for some hot water. He returned to the bed and waited, thinking over the information his returned memories gave him. To his knowledge, only one person could ever have done a spell as strong as this. The thing that really had him was that the woman who had the magical strength to do it was against this kind of thing. He thought back to when the enchantress Elisa had saved his life. He felt the tingle of the healing once again. The blue and green sparks seemed to come and dance above his arms. Only problem was they didn't go away when he focused on them. He gasped and they vanished. He shook his head in wonder. Had Elisa been trying to tell him it was she who had done it? Or was he simply jumping to conclusions? Daniel sighed and shook his head a third time. His thoughts turned to the way it felt to have lived two separate life styles, and wondered if he preferred the life he had had with Isabelle as his sister. Everything had been so easy, so simple. The months he had lived in the forest had been some of the loneliest he had ever had, but now that he looked back, he had been searching. He had been looking for some reason the forest was to be feared, but he had also been looking for something he had lost. Matthew and his past. That had been the true object of the yearly search, Daniel was sure of it. Mrs. Potts walked in ten minutes later, telling him it was a mad house out there, and gave Daniel a pot of hot water and some rags. Daniel laughed lightly at the woman's indignation and had just put a hot towel on Matthew's forehead when he woke up.


	7. Aftermath

**Aftermath**

"What are you doing? I'm not sick you know, and also it's usually a cool towel not a hot one," Matthew said, his voice a moan. Daniel flipped backwards off his chair in surprise at hearing the prince speak, taking the towel with him. Belle laughed at the sight of her brother flying backwards with a slightly disgruntled prince badgering him. She only had a slight 'wait...' moment before she realized what had happened. She gazed at Matthew's face for a bit before she realized Daniel was speaking, the prince was even more handsome than she remembered. His hair hung in wet curls about his shoulders like a dark brown cascade. His piercing blue eyes finally fit his face, which had become a slightly oblong triangle. His cheek bones were high and fine, but still strong. His nose was, for lack of a better term, perfectly sculpted. The mouth which formed the berating words was expressive and well formed. He was built a bit more solidly than Daniel and, if appearances were the only judge, he could have taken the captain down.

"If I might make an interjection here, my prince, seeing as I am the Captain of the Castle Guard, as well as your training master, your safety and well being are mine to look after. Now, if you don't relax and lay flat I'll be forced to pin you down," Daniel said fiercely, pinning his prince down with a withering glare. Belle smiled wider.

"Do you really have an army at your command, Daniel?" she said suddenly. He turned to her and said,

"Technically, yes, I do, Isabelle." Matthew turned and said,

"I thought it was you." Isabelle smiled and said, with a hint of laughter,

"So did I!" It was at that moment that Matthew noticed that they were in his room and on his bed, a respectable distance apart seeing as it was big enough for three people and they were on the edges.

"How did my bed get fixed? Why is the chamber completely repaired? Why does my voice sound so different?" Isabelle giggled. "Why are you laughing?" the disoriented and disgruntled prince asked, his puzzled expression enough to make even Daniel smile. Isabelle wisely stifled her giggles and said,

"Sorry, it is just that you fire off questions without letting people answer. Also, it just strikes me as funny to see a handsome prince startle the man I have come to call brother. The same man who stood up to Harrison Gaston on my behalf, and got beaten quiet badly as well." Matthew shoot Daniel a look before snapping his head back around to Isabelle.

"Did you just say what I thought you said?" he asked, an indescribable look on his face, though it might have been something like shock.

"If you think I said that I have come to call Daniel 'brother', then yes." Matthew, or Prince Matthew as we must now call him, opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before realizing that he had nothing to say and stopped. Daniel chuckled and said,

"You were thinking it would be someone who could protect her better, were you not?" The look on Prince Matthew's face at that comment was impossible to describe so I shall simply call it priceless.

"Who could protect her better than you?" the prince shot back to the smirking Captain.

"Someone who didn't get all the memories of fighting locked away?" Daniel said, crossing his arms and shifting his weight to stand in a rather carefree stance.

"Got a point there," Prince Matthew conceded, bowing his head slightly, a mockingly serious look on his face.

"I thought that you would have picked up on that little tid bit when Isabelle said that I got beat by HARRISON. You handled him quiet well, and with rather little effort," Daniel said easily, batting the proverbial ball back into the prince's court. Matthew grimaced.

"I was a monster with unusual strength." Daniel scoffed and tossed his head to the side, just a little.

"Harrison is a strong man," he pointed out, though his tone said he was beginning to think it was a losing battle.

"Yes, but I did have a bit of an upper hand," Matthew was quick to point out, modesty simply pouring off of him.

"BOYS!" shouted Isabelle, causing the bickering males to turn to her in surprise. "Could we save that for later and answer Prince Matthew's questions?" she asked. Once she saw their heads nod in agreement, she launched into a complicated explanation. "My mother added this little spin. She knew Daniel was on leave with his family in Tale's Wood Village, so she sent me there after she locked my memories so that I wouldn't come here until the time was right. She knew that you would trash your room so she made it so that when I said I loved you and Daniel had remembered himself your castle would return to the way it was right before she cast her spell. See, even your mother's mirror is back." He turned and saw that she was right, except that there was another mirror, and it showed three shining figures.

"Wait, do you mean that your mother is the Enchantress who cast the curse?"

"Yes, I finally know exactly who I am. She started making locks even before you met me. She's better than I gave her credit for." Matthew looked at her and asked,

"How is that? Making locks before we met doesn't mean she's much better," Matthew asked, thoroughly lost. Laughing, Isabelle explained.

"Years ago, my mother was married to a fisherman. When my father died at sea, mother went out to look for him. Somehow she got lost and ended up at your castle. Your father greeted her, leading her to a chair before the fire. My mother asked that kind king if something was troubling him. He told her that his daughter and his wife were sick and close to death. She gave the two some of her curing soup, yet the queen became sick five weeks later and passed the threshold to the afterlife. Yet before this occurred, the king said to mother that his first born son was to be wed to her daughter as payment for her kindness. She returned to my aunt's home, had me, left for seven years, came back and told me my mother was dead, locking the memories I had of her face. She consoled me by saying that the daughter of the lady of Finwright Valley needed a handmaiden. Then, nine years later, on my sixteenth birthday, my mistress told me that we were going to a ball. Before we left, she gave me a lavender dress and one of her old circlets. It was at that ball that I met you, a charming, handsome, cruel prince who was extremely odd. You frightened me, and yet, you enchanted me as well. After we left, Lady Eirena wanted to go pick up a book from the Dryad's Tale Bookstore, the best around. She left me to wander the streets. I met a nice young man at the village well. Daniel. He encouraged me to talk about my past. I didn't know it then, but mother was pretty much taking my memories and shoving them into little compartments as I talked about them. I lived with Daniel and his father right up to the time I met you for a second time. By this point I had no idea who you were but I did have strange dreams about your castle as, one by one, mother broke her locks. I painted that painting you have hanging there during that time. Then, when father was on his way to the inventor's fair and conference, mother nudged him here so that I would come after him. Since I had given you that hint before I left, you let him stay. And so ends that tale." Daniel was trying to keep from letting his emotions rule his face. Matthew noticed and stated,

"You care for Isabelle, don't you." Daniel looked him straight in the eye and said,

"Like a sister." A knock resounded through the castle. "Speaking of which, I believe that is princess Elizabeth at the doors now. I would know her knock anywhere," Daniel added with a smirk. Matthew vaulted off of the bed and dashed to the door.

"Wonder why he's in such a hurry," said Isabelle.

"Why don't you come with me and see," offered Daniel, watching Isabelle carefully as she slid off the bed. Daniel had to catch her just before she hit the floor.

"Oops! Forgot that I passed out. Thank you, Daniel." The two walked out after Matthew, Daniel supporting Isabelle slightly. Lumière opened the door just as Matthew got to the stairs, greeting the Princess with obvious joy. He swallowed and the proceeded to make a dignified descent to greet his sister.

"Matthew! I am so glad to see you! It has been so horrible. How are you, are you recovered from passing out? I thought I heard you scream with pain, are you OK?" Isabelle snickered as she watched her Prince Charming get bombarded with questions by his older half sister. Elizabeth turned and saw Isabelle standing there. She smiled brilliantly and rushed over to her, catching her in a bear hug. "I am so glad you came Isabelle! If you had never come, I would still fear my brother! You have broken the curse and returned to the land a king to rule it. Yet, I would like a full account of what happened here, and don't gloss anything over, at least not too much."

"Well, it all started years ago when Matthew closed his gates..." With that, Isabelle told the whole tale, Matthew and the servants adding things so as to make sure that it was a true account. When the story was done, Elizabeth sat back, reeling. She looked at her brother, a new light of respect shining in her eyes, and said,

"No wonder you wrote to me. You were getting in over your head weren't you. To bad that letter never got to me until things were almost over." Daniel stifled a chuckle and tried, rather unsuccessfully, to smother his smile. Isabelle shot a reproachful look his way. Surprisingly, it had the same effect it had had from day one. It made him stand straight and fixed his giggles. The two royals turned unbelieving faces to her. She smiled and said,

"Sisters, we know how to straighten out the others."

"Even when 'the others' could knock you out with one hit?" Her smile took on a sinister look, like a vampire, and she said,

"Especially then, because they don't know what the sister knows." Matthew and Elizabeth decided to slip off before it escalated much more, plus they had a lot of caching up to do. The royals were almost to the stairs when Marice and Chip walked in the door.

"Belle! ... Who is that man standing behind you?" Marice asked. Isabelle and Daniel smiled and were about to introduce him, when Matthew said,

"I am the one who locked you up. If it would help any, I would be honored if you would stay a few nights with us. Family Tavagonio has never been called inhospitable, for more than three months that is." Maurice gaped at him.

"Tavagonio? As in the royal family? So you're that prince Daniel was jabbering about three years ago." Belle and Daniel, as well as Elizabeth, smiled and chuckled to themselves. Matthew bowed and said,

"I am indeed the 'mad prince' as I believe it was. Though perhaps I may not be so mad this year. And might I say, happy New Year's everyone!" Matthew replied. The hall reverberated with the cheers of the servants.

"Happy New Year's indeed, Matthew." All eyes were turned to the door where an enchantress stood; a smiling enchantress. "Isabelle, darling, how nice to finally be able to talk to you. I have been wanting to reveal myself to you for ever so long. I must admit, I was surprised when you gave my mirror to Matthew. Why did you do that?" Belle smiled sheepishly and said,

"I wanted him to know that I cared for him. Your mirror was the one thing I had left of you, and it always gave me the strength I needed. I thought it would help him. Did he ever look at it?" Elisa smiled and said,

"Yes dear, he looked at it. He saw three shining people in it when he woke up after reverting the castle back to normal, with your help of course. He couldn't have done it without you there." Belle blinked.

"Do you mean that I have some of your gift, and Matthew was the one who fixed the castle?" she asked. Her mother laughed.

"Darling, you have it all. You simply never knew it, nor how to use it. And yes, Matthew was the one who fixed the inside of the castle, or rather fueled my spell. You fixed the castle exterior." Matthew sighed and walked off, leaving the happy pair to talk of magic. When he was far enough away from everyone, he started to run. He didn't care where he was going, he just ran. Matthew stopped and looked up to find that he was in front of the door to his parents sitting room. It opened to his touch, warm light spilling out of the gap. He took a steadying breath and walked in. His father's chair sat before the fire, right where its owner had left it. He walked over and sat in it. His emotions were running away with him, so he didn't notice Elisa coming and sitting next to him. He felt a tingle and opened his eyes. There in front of him was his father's face, but it was a little more like his own. The man was a leader, a true king. Matthew saw so much it was almost sensory over load. "This is what my daughter wanted you to see. This is how you were to her when she declared that she loved you. You know how this mirror made her feel, so how do you feel now?" she said. Matthew shook his head and said,

"I cannot even begin to understand what I saw, much less how I feel. Yet, I can tell you that I know what she meant about getting the strength to go on, thank you. I hated you at first, but now I see you wanted the best for your angel of a daughter." Elisa blinked a few times and smiled,

"I didn't see what was reflected, but boy, I can tell you that I think you learned your lesson better than I thought because that was a better response than I expected." He laughed, a true laugh, not his usual mirthless cough. Elisa was pleased. Her daughter would have the best.

Daniel walked. He didn't know where he was going, he just went. As his feet carried him, he thought of Elisa. She was actually a close friend of his, and he just couldn't get his head around what she had done. She had deceived her daughter and deprived more than a hundred minds of more than a hundred memories that helped make them what they were. A sigh drifted lazily though the garden where Captain Daniel Marcos Ivino stared forlornly at an amazing array of roses and daffodils. "Why do you sigh my friend? Are the aftereffects unpleasant, that is to say, is the prince still impossible to be with?" Elisa said, sliding to sit beside him. Daniel heard a dry, mirthless, cough of a laugh escape him.

"The prince is not the problem, Elisa, you are." In response to her slightly confused expression he clarified. "You have acted out of your own character. More than a hundred people and more than a hundred memories per person locked away. Elisa, I know you only wanted what was best for your daughter, but did you have to do this? I just don't know if you're the same person I knew back in the war. I have to know, are you the same woman who helped me stay alive when I was about an inch from death?" His words seemed to hit something in Elisa. Daniel quickly said, "I would not question you if I was not so totally conflicted I didn't know if my left boot was the same color as my right." This had the desired effect and made her smile.

"Captain, I am indeed the same woman. I have simply been though much and suffered amazing emotional pain. I wanted Matthew to learn to be more like his father," she said, willing him to understand her position. Daniel nodded, as if he had known all along that she would answer thus. She pulled out a hand mirror and showed it to him. He saw an imperfect reflection of himself. Imperfect as in he looked remarkably like his father yet with a few subtle differences. He saw a military leader, a counselor, an adviser. It felt that if you were at war, this was the guy you would go to if you had any questions or information for the military, and he was an excellent diplomat in any situation. He shook his head, marveling at what he had seen. He knew, without a doubt, that it was him. He just wondered if it showed a different time or the real time only twisted, like a fairytale. Elisa smiled and said, " I know what you're wondering. 'Can this be what I am, or is it what I will be.' I assure you, that is how you truly are. This mirror was enchanted to show a reflection of a person's heart. I did not see, and I do not want to see. It was for your eyes and your eyes only. Matthew had a glimpse of you, Isabelle, and himself, but all he saw was a bunch of glowing people."

"Thank you, Elisa. If your previous words hadn't proven who you were that certainly did the trick. I wish you the best of new year's. Stay and have some of Mrs. Potts' peach cobbler, it is positively divine." Elisa laughed and said that she had one more stop to make before the celebrations could be complete. Daniel nodded his understanding and walked about with a happier air about him. If any had seen him as he walked after his talk with the good enchantress, they would have seen an unexplained glow around him, as if he reflected the star and moonlight, mingling it with a strange golden radiance emanating from his person.

Isabelle took it all with a detached air. She felt like she was trapped in a dream and all the joy, all the happy faces, would dissipate at any moment. Matthew noticed and asked her if she would like some air. When she nearly collapsed against him, he took it as his cue to get her to a bed. He carried her to the the wing for vising nobility and placed her on the fluffy feather bed. That was where Elisa found her daughter, laying peacefully on a bed made for a noblewoman. She eased her self down next to Isabelle and told her to awake. "Where am I? What am I doing here? Who are you? What are you doing here?" Elisa laughed at her daughter's disorientated questions.

"You are in the castle of the family Tavagonio, in the nobility guest chambers I believe. I am your mother, Elisa. I am here to show you the mirror I left you. I know you have seen it many times, but this time might just be different. As to what you're doing here, I believe you fainted and Matthew carried you here to recover." Isabelle's shoulders shook. Elisa was inclined to say that she was laughing at it all.

"You've shown Matthew and Daniel I suppose? Well, I thank you, but I don't really need it."

"Darling, you fainted and Matthew had to carry you up here. If you don't need it now, honey, I don't know who does." Isabelle laughed and looked at the piece of silvery glass her mother held. A queen looked back at her. There was no other way to describe the woman looking back at her. This was a woman you could trust to run your country and run it well. She was a strong and independent woman who cared for her people. It was clear that she had lived as a farmer's daughter for she had a knowing look in her eyes.

"Mother, do you know why it shows me as a queen? It never did that before." Elisa smiled and replied,

"Isabelle, you were promised to Matthew when you were still in my womb. He was born two years later. It never showed you this because I didn't want you to see what you would be. You only saw what you needed, now you see the whole picture, minus your king." Isabelle thought for a moment and then hopped off the bed and hugged her mother.

"Thank you so much, now I'm going to return to my prince and dance with a lighter heart. Troubles will come but with Matthew by my side I will face them. I love you, even if I have never really known you." And so she did what she had said. It was a glorious day. Daniel had found his dress uniform, which still fit him perfectly. Likewise, Matthew was wearing the same blue vest, ivory colored, billowy sleeved shirt, dark pants and shiny black boots he had worn the night that he had met Isabelle, yet they seemed different, along with the fact that they fit him as a well muscled twenty-one year old. It was brighter, livelier, yet more somber and subdued. The two smiled at her, eyes shining. She danced with what seemed like every male in the castle. When everyone had headed off to bed, Matthew led Isabelle to the same garden that Daniel had confronted Elisa in. He sat her down on the same bench that his father had proposed to his mother. Kneeling, he gazed at her, his eyes reflecting the moon, and asked,

"Will you, Isabelle Francis Niovia, consent to marry me?" She stared at him, mouth open and eyes wide.

"You know that we were promised before you were born," she said, trying to buy more time for her mind to process her emotions. He sighed and shifted so that his knees wouldn't have to be resting on the cold flagstones.

"I had to ask you for myself. I didn't want you to marry me because of a promise my father made your mother, I want you to marry me for me." Isabelle was laughing, which caused Matthew's face to be a comical mix of joy and slightly offended confusion, which caused her to laugh harder. When she had finally calmed down, she said, laughter still ringing in her voice,

"Did you really have to ask? You know I've fallen head over heels for you. The answer is yes, yes of course I'll marry you," she said, having finally sorted out her emotions. His face simply radiated joy as he slipped the silver ring on her finger. She flung herself at him and hugged him so hard he couldn't get a breath. They planned the wedding carefully, until Elisa stepped in and planed it for them. The whole castle was a buzz with preparations. Finally, Elisa, who felt she would lose her mind if the love birds stayed and tried to figure out what was being planned for them any longer, sent the two off with Daniel and his father to stay at their home.

The preparations were complete and the happy two could return. It was a glorious day, the whole village of Tale's Wood was in attendance, along with what must have been half the kingdom. Elisa was beaming. Her only child was to marry the prince and become queen at his side. As the carriages that held the bride and groom rolled to a halt, Captain Daniel Marcos Ivino hopped down and opened the door for his Prince. "It is a pleasure to see you again, Prince Matthew. All is ready, if you would just follow me?" greeted Elisa, smiling brightly. Matthew laughed and said by way of reply,

"It's good to be back, but it's even better to hear you say that it's a pleasure to see me!" Everyone else joined in the laughter. They all remembered the first time the two had met. At last, the castle chapel was filled and the Prince was ready to be wed to his Princess. The crowd owed and awed at the sight of Isabelle and her maids walking up the aisle toward Matthew. The ceremony was quickly over and the happy couple dashed out to the ivory colored carriage and headed to the Elf's Tale Tavern for the reception.

"So, you married Isabelle. How do you feel now that you know she can't run from you in disgust?" Princess Elizabeth asked her half-brother. He simply smiled a dangerous looking smile and said,

"I knew all along that she would stay. The moment she looked me in the eye with defiance and determination all over her face I knew." His bride snorted and tossed the ball right back at him by saying,

"I thought it was when I gave you my word of honor to stay." Matthew turned to face her and said,

"If I may remind you, you fled in terror."

"You roared at me and, if your memory is flawed, you also bared your razor sharp claws. Who wouldn't be terrified?" The whole room was listening now, but the royal couple didn't seem to notice.

"Do I scare you now?" Matthew asked, leaning in and down ever so slightly.

"You grew. How could you grow under a spell?" Matthew grinned.

"Don't switch the subject, dearest. Do I scare you now?"

"The only thing about you that's scary is your uncanny resemblance to a rapier." The crowd blinked. How did he look like a sword? "You're tall, slender, quick, strong, and deadly. A rapier is long, it's more slender as well as quicker than a long sword, but just as strong. It has been folded and pounded many times and tempered by fire and water. A thrust or a slash can end your life. You, my Prince, have been through the fires of loss and battle and the rains of depression and imprisonment. A bow or a hand to hand weapon of any kind is deadly in your hands as you weld it with accuracy and skill. You are my sword, my prince, and my rose." Matthew blinked again and said,

"Is that really me? Oh well, if it is I'll just have to wrap myself in a blanket and have a drink to keep from wilting, pricking you with a thorn, or cutting off your fingers." The room echoed with laughter. As the Prince and his bride moved to get some punch, a young man with a build like Daniel's blocked their way. "What is it my good man?" asked Prince Matthew. The man stared, then said,

"I have come to apologize, my Prince." He swept a rather elegant bow. "I have done you and your bride a great disservice. Is there somewhere we may speak away from prying ears?" Matthew nodded and said,

"We have the use of the back room, if you would follow me?" The man nodded and Matthew took Isabelle's hand. Once in the back room, and the Prince and Isabelle were seated, the man began to tell his tale.

"I am the son of Gordan Gaston," he began, and was forced to stop by the out break of disbelieving remarks from the two royals. "It is true, I am Harrison. If you would like my story, please let me speak." This had the desired effect of quieting the two. "As you know, the enchantress, Elisa, locked away hundreds of memories in each person's mind for miles around when she cast her spell over the Prince and his castle. What you don't know is that when Isabelle entered the town after that fateful ball, Elisa started to lock my memories and that it affected my intelligence. After only four days, the locks were complete and my brain had been tossed into an under water prison and the key was thrown far away. It took the better part of seven years for us to find that key. You know what that key was, do you not?"

"My love," said Isabelle. Harrison nodded.

"Yes. When you admitted your love to the Prince, I got my brain back. I also got changed to this by Elisa. I believe she meant it as punishment, but I take it as a way for me to move about and observe things without people calling out or attempting to do me harm." The two agreed that it was for the best. Harrison rejoined the party with them and quietly slipped off, blending effortlessly in with the crowd. He sought out La Fou, whom he found sitting at a table staring blankly into his ale. He looked horrible. Obviously miserable, the little man was unkempt and had doubtless been trying to wash away his sorrow with strong drink. It twisted Harrison's heart to see his friend in such a state. "Why so glum friend?" he asked, pulling up a chair. La Fou replied, still gazing into his mug,

"My best and only friend has fallen to his doom. There is nothing I know how to do, except be a hunter's caddy, but without Harrison around I doubt that there would be a single hunter who would want me." Harrison wished he could tell La Fou it was him, but he stuck by his plan of getting La Fou less dependent on him.

"I'm a hunter. I left my old town and my caddy stayed with his family. You could work with me, if you like," he offered. The little man's eyes lit up like a fire.

"Of course I would like that! It's the only thing I've done most of my life!" Watching his friend enjoying the prospect of a job with a new hunter made Harrison reluctant to drop the hammer, but he knew he had to.

"Well, I won't always be here. I'm also a bit of a traveling bard."

"That's OK. I'll go with you."

"You can't come with me. I just couldn't ask you to do that. Anyways, I will be here for a year at least."

"Seems like an awful long time for a traveling bard to stay in one place," commented La Fou.

"Yes, but I hear there are quite a few legends here abouts. It will take a while for me to learn them by heart." The little man nodded, accepting that as a plausible reason to stay for a whole year.

"Well, at least I have a way to pay the bills while I read my father's brewing notes as well and experiment with different techniques." Harrison nodded. This was good, very good. He was about to say good bye, when he realized that he couldn't stay at his house when everyone thought that he was someone from far away. "Do you have a place to stay?" asked La Fou. Harrison shook his head. "You can stay at my place. There is plenty of room." Harrison smiled and said,

"You are most kind. Call me James, James Smith," while reaching out his hand to La Fou.

"La Fou, Garin La Fou." Garin and James, as I shall call Harrison until he returns to normal, shook hands and went to Garin's house. In the morning, James rose early and made breakfast for himself and his host. Garin stumbled down the stairs, and stopped, staring wide eyed at his new employer who was holding a tray of eggs and toast.

"Morning! I thought we should start out right. I would hate it if we were on bad terms before we even got to know each other a little." Garin almost wept. "Hey now! Why the the long face friend?" James called, concern on his face.

"I have never had someone make me breakfast before." James gave him a sharp look.

"Your mother never cooked you breakfast? Your father never cooked? You have always cooked your own food?"

"My parents don't count," Garin reported. James nodded his understanding and continued his work on their breakfast. Garin sat down at the table and was joined shortly by James. Garin La Fou watched as his new employer prayed over the food he had prepared. After he was finished, James tucked into the cheesy eggs, crispy bacon, and warm toast with butter with gusto. As the day proceeded, Garin could tell that this was the beginning of a wonderful friendship and the rest of his life.

A/N: Well, if you're reading this, it mean you survived. Or you just skipped to the end. Thanks for reading anyway, and please leave a review. This _was_ the first fanfic I ever wrote after all. And don't worry, we're nearing the end. Later! Regenengel3


	8. James

James

James stared out at the magnificent building. It had fallen into disrepair, its inhabitants gone with the 'death' of their heir, Harrison Gaston. A sigh that seemed to come from the soles of his feet clawed its way up his tight throat. Garin La Fou, a stocky dwarf of a man with a rather deceptive face, came and stood by his tall friend's side. They were a plain, nearly ugly, pair but they were as close as can be when one employs the other. "It is a right sad sight, is it not?" the little man asked his companion after a while. James grunted, a slight squeak hidden in the gruff sound. That squeak was present anytime the tall, quiet, homely man spoke but his voice was a rather pleasant, light baritone if one overlooked that squeaky quality.

"It seems so forlorn. Why do your towns folk leave it that way?" James asked, something close to pain in his voice. Garin looked at him critically.

"We leave it as a monument to our legend, Harrison Gaston. He may have died a fool but he lived a hero." James made a sound that bordered on disgust.  
"Perhaps he would rather have his former home be as he was in life, not death. Fix it up, put a new coat of paint on it, make it seem like a house of stone sheathed in wood, not a ramshackle slum building. I would want my home in good repair, if it was left as a memorial to me," he said. This earned him another critical glance from his 'employee', like he was hiding something. He turned and smiled, showing pearly white, slightly crooked teeth, and said, "Let us get some dinner. I'm cooking." Garin shook his head, wondering why James insisted on cooking for a little nobody like him. Over the next month or so, Garin found James staring out at the old Gaston house as though it wrea lost friend. Exactly one year after the return of the king, and his own mysterious arrival, James left to travel abroad and learn new tales to bring back in three months. Garin watched him go sadly. It had been so nice to be out in the woods again, though he would never go out alone. He feared to admit to himself that he liked the forest life, but he knew that James knew about his secret love for the woods. There was much rejoicing when Daniel walked into town saying that he had seen the bard from the palace. James rode up to see the people waiting. He slid smoothly to the ground and looked around.

"You waiting for some one?" he asked, clearly confused. Garin walked out to stand in front of him. To look at Garin when they were that close felt like James was a mountain and Garin was a foot hill.

"It is you we were waiting for. There is some one who would like to speak to you soon, but first tell us a tale or two at the tavern. I'll bring over a barrel of my wine, special for you," he said, smiling up at his friend. James smiled as well, but he knew he would only have time for one or two cups before his meeting with the mystery person. His tales went on for two hours, then he saw Daniel, the war hero captain, walking toward him. He sighed, swallowed, and put down his glass and his stringed instrument. Standing, he nodded to the captain and asked him if he would like a drink.

"No, I have had my two cups of wine and I am only here to talk with you," Daniel had replied, though he was pleased the bard had manners. Another nod and James was leading Daniel to a quiet back room where they could talk in peace. Once Daniel saw where they were headed his face broke out into a grin. "You know when to leave the party, I like that." James smiled wanly.

"I have lived with men like you before, even been close. I know the difference in conversation when it is staged in the proper place." He opened the door and beckoned Daniel inside. Once they were seated, James asked, "What is it you are wanting to be talking about?" Daniel smiled a tight smile.

"I was wondering if you would like to be the royal huntsmen." James stared blankly at the captain.

"Forgive me but, I almost expect you to call out 'got ya!' and laugh in my face." Daniel laughed at that.

"I was testing to see what you would do if offered some job from the palace that was in your field. I heard you were a hunter-bard type and I decided to use hunting as my lure. You proved to be more perceptive than I would have thought." James hung his head. Daniel could almost believe the rumors going around that this man was his long lost twin. The man's seemingly narrow shoulders shook. Daniel leaned in closer, and was forced to jump back when James burst into laughter, flinging his head back.

"I do not really know why I find that so funny but I do!" he exclaimed, nearly breathless from laughing. Daniel chuckled as well. Once James had calmed down he said, "Why are you testing me? I do not believe you to be the type to just question and test a man for the fun of it."

"You are right, I am not that type. There are rumors going around that you are my long lost twin." Before Daniel could get farther, James laughed harder than the first time.

"That is absolutely preposterous! I can guarantee you that we are in no way related." Daniel smiled. This was going better than he thought.

"If we are not brothers, and since I have already shown an interest in you, why don't we be friends?" James grinned, his teeth flashing even though they were a less than white.

"I would like that," he said, shaking hands with the dashing war hero.

"JAMES!" came a cry that reverberated through the yard and barn. James Smith cringed at the call. He could almost feel the verbal lashing that was to come.

"Here Garin!" he called back, hoping that his 'employee' would be easy with him. The short, stout man came around the bend. Garin La Fou was not the biggest or the strongest, but he could still make you feel like a child.

"James, what are we to do with you? Why do you always slink off like that? I just wanted to know why the cellar door was left unlocked last night." James sighed, it seemed he left things undone or done wrong every other day at minimum.

"Would you believe me if I said I have no idea why the key didn't catch last night when I know I put it in and turned it as far as it would go?" La Fou growled, his favorite way to show his displeasure. "I'll take that as a no."

"A huge, resounding no. You know that I keep all my most treasured possessions down there!" Garin fumed. The tall man sighed deeply as his smaller counterpart ranted on and on about how some of his more wonderful and valuable things could have 'gone missing' and why it was James' fault as well as why he thought the tall, plain man was a nincompoop, among other things. James was careful to keep his attention on his friend, even if he wanted to yell at him and toss him in a tree, and at least act like he was listening. When La Fou's air ran out James gave his usual measured reply.

"You are truly amazing when you are mad. I shall do my best to obtain the standard that you obviously wish of me. I did not know about the fact that I must have baboon blood. How did I get to be so clumsy? My mother was a graceful dancer by the way. No, I didn't know my father smelled of elderberries. Where did you get your poetic flare? Yes, I was aware of the fact that you store your rock collection as well as your pottery, world clothing, and book collections in your very tidy cellar. Do you have a new batch of ale, wine, whiskey, or mead for me to test? You know how much I love your brewing." Garin tried, but he couldn't stay mad at his friend. James really had gotten the whole smoothing of ruffled feathers thing down pat.

"I don't have a new batch of anything, but if you would like some of an older batch I still have plenty," La Fou said, somewhat reluctant to change the subject. The two of them went inside and had a grand old time. The next few weeks passed as usual; James getting scolded for small things and the two of them going out to hunt in the mornings, or sometimes the afternoon. Daniel came by to talk every now and then, occasionally with one or two of the guardsmen of the palace. A few times the Captain brought one guards man, one hunter, one servant, and one stable hand. Daniel, Garin, and James became friends rather quickly, like they had known each other a long time ago. James left in the early Fall, on his way to bring joy to more than just his circle of friends in Tales Wood Village. As he was riding down the forest road, he started to sing. It was a sad song, full of longing for days long past and things long lost. Daniel heard his mourning song and edged his chestnut gelding over beside the other man's horse.

"Why so glum friend?" he asked, concern coloring his voice. James finished the song with a few extra, fluttering notes that put Daniel in mind of torn and tattered war banners and said,

"I am simply filled with sadness this day. I have made great friends here in your village, and though I go to bring joy to others and bring back new stories to my friends, I am sad." He tilted his head back and let the early morning sunshine play across his face. Daniel could almost say the effect made the other man handsome, but then the moment passed and James was looking him full in the face. "I do not wish to leave, Captain Daniel. There are many songs I could compose among your trees, and yet I force myself to leave, to bring you new songs that are old elsewhere," he said in a slightly melancholy voice before he once again turned away, gazing into the depths of the gnarled forest. "Tell me, will I be welcome in two years, when I come back from one of these trips? Or shall I fade from the memory of this place?" Daniel sighed. James was a bard and at that moment the hunter was having tea with his grandmother whilst talking about badminton parties.

"Well Smith, I have no idea what will happen, but I do know what has happened. You have filled a void in the village. When Harrison died the people were saddened, for there was no-one who could tell stories by the hearth like that wily Gaston. Sure, in the last few years before he went he was a complete and total jerk and idiot, but before that he could beat anyone hands down in a word battle or slip by even me. I smacked him when I found him the first time. 'Frid I called him a cheat, but we got along alright after that." James was laughing so hard he was bent almost double over his saddle horn.

"Yep! That fits with what I have learned about this Harrison Gaston," he said, gasped for breath before saying, "Thank you, captain, you have swept the worst of my sadness away. I think I'll continue on alone." Daniel nodded his understanding and melted back into the forest. James shuttered. How did that man do that? It was like he could evaporate and then condense wherever he was needed. James thought back to the day he had first met Daniel as a Captain after the war.

_"Harrison! Daniel is back!" called his mother. Dashing out the door, Harrison was forced to skid in order to slow down before he knocked over his dad._

"_Sorry!" he called back over his shoulder. He ran until he saw the familiar dun mare with the equally familiar figures of his best friends beside it. Daniel's head turned at the sound of pounding feet. Catching sight of his old friend's face, Harrison skidded to a halt. Daniel turned to face him fully. His breath catching in his chest, Harrison nearly fell to his knees. "Daniel?" he asked, almost afraid of the answer he would get. The hunted face of his friend nodded. A small smile broke through the haze and some of the pain eased away from his eyes._

"_Harrison." That one word nearly made the man cry. Daniel was like a man who found himself in a dream, and now he, Harrison, was starting to make him wake up. "You came to welcome me home?" Harrison squared his shoulders and walked right up to the tortured captain._

"_I don't think I know you, Captain War Hero Sir." Daniel's eyes seemed to gleam with unshed tears. "How about a drink and you can tell me some about yourself? I would love it if we could be friends." Daniel grinned, his teeth just as perfect as they had been before the war, lights that had been buried by pain sprang back into life._

"_I could use a friend, hunter. A drink is only slightly less welcome."_

James opened his eyes, Daniel's words still echoing in his head. He smiled a bit and sang a song he had learned a long time ago about a winding road with many paths. It seemed appropriate to sing such a song while traveling down the road to places unknown. Woodland creatures came to hear him sing. Far from where he rode, Queen Isabelle sat up as a snippet of song drifted in her window. King Matthew walked up behind his wife and as he was about to ask her to come down to dinner, he heard the song drift by him as well. He smiled.

"I believe our resident bard has just gone for his second round of story gathering." Isabelle nodded.

"Perhaps when he returns Daniel could extend an invitation to the palace. It would be nice to hear a new voice sing a new song." Matthew grunted.

"I heard that he has a bit of a squeak in his voice no matter what." Isabelle's crystalline laugh rang in the small sitting room.

"I think I can keep it from his voice while he sings. And don't you dare say you doubt me! We have been through to much together for that." This drew a sigh from the usually even tempered king. Another laugh rang out, drifting into the ears of the traveling bard. James cocked his head, not ceasing in his song. When the laugh did not repeat he shrugged and continued on. When he returned to the village, Daniel said that there was someone special who would like for him to preform for her. Before James could ask who, he was led to the castle.

"No way, no way, no way..." James chanted softly to himself as he was lead to the throne room.

"Yes way, James Smith," said the Queen. Apparently he hadn't been quiet enough for his words to be missed by the Queen. The king nodded his agreement. James swallowed and asked if they had any requests that he might me able to fulfill. The Queen smiled kindly and said, "Surprise me!" He sighed and began to sing his traveling song. All listened so intently to his songs, James forgot his nervousness. So caught up in his music was he that James didn't even notice that the nagging squeak that plagued his singing was absent. Daniel almost cried during some of the more mournful songs, while he had to fight to keep his laughter down many more times. When James finished a song, the whole room burst into applause, every single time. It was like his singing was magical.

"Forgive me your Majesties, but I feel my voice going," he said after a particularly lively song. The King and Queen told him they were just glad they had had the pleasure of having such a skilled musician perform for them. James blushed, a pleased smile on his lips. He was asked to come the palace first thing when he returned every year. Agreeing, James bowed his way out of the throne room. He went to the tavern that night and told his tales and sang his songs to the delight of all. He stayed for at time and Garin would scold him for things done wrong or left undone and the two of them would go hunting. A few times Daniel came along or they found a royal huntsman in the woods and they would hunt together.

"JAMES!" came the fmiliar cry that reverberated through the yard and barn. James Smith cringed at the call. He could almost feel the verbal lashing that was to come, yet again.

"Here Garin!" he called back, hoping that his 'employee' would be easy with him.

"James, what are we to do with you? Why do you always slink off like that? I was just wondering if you would like to sample my latest batch of whiskey." James sighed deeply, slumping forward ever so slightly.

"Is that all? From the tone of your voice I thought you were going to lecture me on something." The little man smiled up at his tall friend. The two of them had been together for three years now and Garin was finding that his friend was like Harrison before the whole mess with the prince and his castle disappearing. They had worked out an arrangement where James would leave around winter time and return for summer, reciting the tales he had learned during his travels every night in the tavern. He would then hunt and help with the farming the rest of the year. The villagers gave him Harrison's house, which was really his after all. Garin was finding that he was actually OK at being a brewer, and James was very encouraging about it all. The two headed off to the basement of Garin's house, which he used as a brewing room. He drew up a glass of fine, light whiskey and handed it to James. The tall, thin, athletic man took an experimental sip, then took a longer drink. "This is wonderful, Garin! I think you've finally gotten the hang of this! Why don't you take a sample to Darrick and ask him if he would like to sell your ales and wines? I am fairly sure he would like to."

"I think I shall. Do you mind if I work for you a while longer? Just until the town warms up to my brews." James laughed.

"Do you have to ask?" Garin smiled and shook his head. James was laughing more and acting like he was going to settle down here. What the budding brewer didn't know was that James was having thoughts about asking Elisa, a powerful enchantress, what she was going to do with him. The doubts he had were making him edgy and he was just trying to cover it with cheer. The next morning, James made up his mind and saddled his horse early. He rode far into the woods and found a peaceful clearing. Dismounting, he tied his horse to an old log and sat down. Eyes closed and mind still, he could hear so much. Birds chirped, his horse munched on grass, bugs buzzed, and leaves rustled as small critters scurried about their business. Then came a different kind of rustling, the kind that a lady's gown would make if it was dragged over leaves or through tall grass. "Good morning Elisa," the man said. The sound ceased, but Harrison knew that she was still there.

"How did you know it was me?" she asked, her voice light and silvery.

"Only you would enter here on foot," he said, a smile playing along his lips. She sighed and walked over to him. He waited until he heard her sit before he opened his eyes. Elisa drew her breath in quickly. Why did she have to give him such pricing eyes? Those hazel orbs looked like balls of wood with a dagger of jet in the middle. "I came here because I wanted to talk to you. I figured here would be the likeliest place to run into you." She relaxed and asked,

"Why did you want to talk?" The man unfolded his long legs and said,

"I was wondering how long I will be like this. I imagine it would come as a great shock if I suddenly changed back to... well... how I was." Elisa nodded, he had been quite impressive before.

"I am glad you came to me. I confess I'm impressed that you waited until La Fou had solid footing and didn't need you so much." Harrison dipped his head and said quietly,

"It is the least I could do, after how I treated him. It would have hurt him if I came back on my own from the roof of the castle." She cocked her head, hoping she would get clarification. However she was to be denied. "Will I stay this way? If so, will you at least steer someone special toward Garin, to help fill the sudden gap left by my departure?" Elisa jerked her head a little.

"What departure?" she asked, confusion plain on her face.

"If I stay this way, I will stay away longer so I can learn more tales and bring joy to more people. I shall return here occasional, but for the most part I'll roam the countryside." Elisa smiled, he never ceased to amaze her.

"I shall send a lady to him. I know just the one too. Go, Harrison, and prepare as if James shall only be around another year or so." Harrison rose and bowed, he went back to his horse and grabbed his bow in preparation to hunt for deer. When Garin saw James coming he knew something was troubling his friend.

"Why so glum, James? I see you caught a marvelous buck, so whats eating you?" James looked at him like a dieing man looks at his closest friend before he breaths his last and said,

"I met a woman named Elisa in the forest. She said some... unsettling things." Garin nodded. The enchantress had that effect on people. Little did he know his lanky friend had sought her out.

"Don't let it get to you. Elisa is an enchantress, she says some crazy things some times."

"No Garin, this is true. I shall only be with you for another year or so. Whether I die or simply leave on a trip and you never hear from me again, you shall have me for only another year or so." Garin shook his head and replied,

"Leaving or dieing, you still have a year. Let us make the most of it." And so they did. James left mid January and returned mid August, yet he seemed a little different. He seemed a bit happier as well. He was introduced to Garin's crush, Talia, and laughed with joy as she praised Garin's brews, causing the little man to blush. The rest of the year passed as usual, with the exception that James was slowly starting to look like the village's old hunting legend, Harrison Gaston. He left at the same time as last year, and returned at the same time. However, he didn't look like himself anymore.

"Are you who I think you are?" asked the small brewer. "Because if you are I heard you were dead." Harrison laughed, a deep rich sound.

"I suppose I own you all an explanation." Just as he finished, the blond triplets rushed around the bend, drawn by his voice.

"HARRISON!" they squealed. Harrison screamed and rode a ways away from the squealing girls. As he trotted around, he told his tale, though heavily edited. He wanted to save the best for last. The fact that he had been James Smith would fall like a hammer blow some night soon. When he was done, he glanced back at the triplets and smiled.

"Girls, what do you think of Captain Daniel?" They stopped, gasping after having chased Harrison around.

"He's OK, but he can't hold a candle to you, Harrison!" the 'oldest' said, her sisters agreeing. Harrison's smile grew larger as he whistled. Out of the woods rode two young men. They were what everyone expected Daniel's sons to have looked like. "These are our dear war hero's sons, Falcon and Tray. I found them in the small town of Breeze Bay. They have been working as mercenaries on merchant boats and had just disembarked from a ship from Highway Harbor. I admit, I am amazed they agreed to accompany me here," the hunting legend said. The two laughed with wild abandon.

"You did have quite a time of it until you said," the first started and the second finished with,

"'These two sure do seem like Daniel's sons. To bad I can't take them to him and see if they really are his.'" Tray's impersonation of Harrison was so good, even Harrison had to shake his head. Daniel, who had been on leave and was about to return to the palace, heard and wound his way to the young men.

"Identify yourselves strangers," he said, power and authority in his mellow voice. All eyes turned to the captain. Falcon and Tray looked first at Daniel, then at each other. Falcon said,

"I am Falcon Al'Dera, and this is my brother, Tray Al'Dera. We were told that there was a man here who may be our father. Do you know a mister Daniel Marcos Ivino?" Daniel swallowed hard, fighting with his emotions.

"I am he." Falcon and Tray dismounted with practiced unison and walked with an easy grace toward the captain. "I believe that you two are my sons, but I think it would be best if Talia had a look at you," Daniel said once the two had gotten close enough for him to pull into a hug.

"Why Talia?" asked Garin.

"She is Isabelle's cousin. If these men are my sons, they have to pass their honorary cousin's inspection." Talia, a tall, slender girl with red hair, brown highlights and slanted eyes that seemed to shift color, walked out and looked into the pair's eyes.

"They are your sons, Daniel. You owe Harrison your thanks," she said, her voice frighteningly similar to Isabelle's soft ones. The proud man turned to his powerful rival and said,

"I never thought I would be grateful to you, Gaston, but I am. You have brought to me the last things my wife left me, my sons. It seems, all grudges must die sometime to make way for a brighter future. I hated you, Harrison, I really did. With a passion. Yet now... now I forgive it all and welcome you as a friend." He held out his hand and Harrison, looking completely bewildered, shook it. Falcon gave a wild cry that fit his name and Tray laughed an equally wild laugh. They danced around, catching the two old enemies up and carrying them to the tavern where tales were swapped and Garin's ales, wines, and whiskeys were praised greatly. At the end of the wild party, Daniel and Harrison found themselves in a quiet room with only Falcon and Tray for company. "Harrison, would you tell me..." Daniel started before he trailed off as Harrison laughed.

"I shall give you a full account of what happened, starting the day Isabelle came to the village. I saw the two of you sitting by the fountain, and I felt something rise up in me, like an animal. I wanted her, really. When I saw the two of you going to your home I tried to control myself. I held out for a few days by telling myself that you were just being nice to a wanderer, but it got harder. Once you declared that she was your sister come back from a trip I sorta lost it. I believe that was the day I lost my brain. Isabelle was just so beautiful, and since I had quite a few memories hidden from me, it was just so logical that beauty should be the only thing. The days began to blend together. I developed a routine just to know when one day ended and another began. I got up, eat, saddled my horse, rode around in the forest with my bow at the ready, went to the tavern to mount skulls of unfortunate animals that I had happened upon on my ride, eat dinner, and throughout the whole day I would obsesses about Belle. When I saw you, the only thought I had was 'he wants me to have an inferior bride. The little jerk, he thinks I am just an animal pretending to be a man.' I see now that I was right, because even I think that as I look back. When Belle vanished, I obsessed even more. Then when I had a lead as to where she had been, I had to follow it. Why I threw her in the cellar I cannot even being to understand. The fight with the prince need not have much detail since you know it happened and when. When I fell to the roof, I thought for sure that I was a goner. Somehow I stuck at the edge of the roof, right above a sheer drop. The rain changed color and fell like a hammer. The pain I felt when it struck was near enough to make me black out. A mist rose around me and when it cleared, I was James Smith." Harrison was forced to stop to allow Daniel to express his disbelief. "I know, it is hard to believe, but as surely as I stand before you it is true. Elisa, the enchantress, came and told me she was amazed I didn't scream my head off when I realized I had been changed. I believe she meant it as punishment, but it turned out to be a blessing. Since I was no longer one to stand out, I could help people who had become to dependent on me. Most of the story you know from there, seeing as I was rather active in town and you and I had several talks. I confess I am amazed you didn't figure it out yourself. Anyway, I had to know what would become of me so I went to the forest and sat in a quiet clearing. Elisa came and we had a little talk. She told me James would be around only another year or so. I thought I would die or some such thing. After a little while it became clear. I was returning to normal. It was gradual, but my trip made it seem sudden. I almost wish I had stayed here until the change was complete, but I realize now that if I had waited I would have missed your sons." Harrison paused to wet his throat and let Daniel absorb the information. Daniel blinked before he said,

"That is an amazing tale, and I find myself agreeing with you. How could I not have seen it? I knew you rather well before Isabelle came, and I watched you lose yourself. How could I not see you find yourself? I wondered why you were acting like a brute, at first. Later, that was just how you were. Please forgive my foolishness, Harrison, I wronged you." Harrison blushed.

"Don't beat yourself up so much Danny. I would have done the same. Sure that doesn't really count for much, but there you go." Daniel blinked, then laughed.

"You would have had my approval to marry Belle if you had stayed as you were! It is good to have the old Harrison back!" Harrison's face grew dark.

"Are you so certain?" Daniel gave him a critical look. "Would you have counted me good enough if I had stayed as I once was? If I stayed the Harrison you knew before Isabelle came, would you have acted any different? Somehow I don't think so." Falcon chuckled.

"My my, you do love theatrics don't you?" The two men turned to the young mercenary. "Harrison is saying that he would not be the way he is now if he had not had the experience of losing himself, and then regaining it. I do not believe you are the same as you were when we left, father. Both you and Harrison have changed, possibly for the better, because of what has occurred." Daniel closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. When he had finished, he turned to Tray.

"Do you agree with Falcon?" Tray nodded, as solemn as can be. Daniel sighed, then let out a huff of a laugh. "I think I understand. Since the two of us had to make a new life for ourselves we changed. Then when we relived our past, we changed again. We saw things in a different light, saw new things and learned new lessons from our old experiences. Is that what you are saying?" Tray and his twin nodded, smiling brightly. A laugh drifted in through the door way of the private sitting room. All heads turned to regard the figure in the doorway. Talia laughed again as she entered the room.

"Now that that is out of the way, I have a message for you all," she said. Once she was sure she had their attention, she elaborated. "My cousin, Queen Isabelle Francis Tavigonio, requests your presence at her birthday celebration which is to be held in two days. Daniel, it was originally only for you, but I do not think my cousin would mind if you brought your sons, or James." Harrison chuckled.

"James is no longer here." Talia nodded, smiling.

"I am aware of that, but you are the man we all called James Smith and are therefore invited by me. Isabelle would not gain say me in this I am sure." Harrison shook his head.

"I fear I shall be walking into the furnace, but I shall come. It is better to get these things over quickly rather than let them fester and simmer." Talia, Daniel, Falcon and Tray all nodded and remarked on the wisdom of the statement. Harrison found no end of amusement at their words. _Wise words eh? To think that just a few minutes ago we were saying have great an idiot I was._ His musing was cut short by Daniel reminding him that he still needed to tell of how he had found Falcon and Tray. "Right. Talia, would you like to hear the tale? If you do, it would be best if you sat," the burly hunter said, motioning to an empty chair. Once the red head was seated, Harrison continued his story. "I was riding the trade roads when I was caught by an irresistible urge to see the sea. I was passing Breeze Bay at the time, so I simply took a detour from my usual path. As I was walking the pier, leading my horse, I saw a strange sight. Two men, twins by the look of them, stood on the railings of a large merchant ship. It was a sea faring vessel, judging by the size, and the sailors themselves looked like they were from out of kingdom. The two turned, grabbed a rope, and swung to the dock, all in perfect lock step. That may not sound strange, but I assure you it was freaky to see them swing out, up and then doing a back flip to land on their feet on the dock and move so flawlessly one nearly blocked the other from view." Daniel was listening so intently he was nearly falling out of his chair. "I walked over and introduced myself as a wandering bard in search of new tales from far off lands. They talked with me for a bit, before I began to bore them. Then I asked them if they would like to meet the villagers of my home town. They laughed and said they had other things to do. That's when I dropped the winning line. They abruptly stepped up and invited me to stay with them at a tidy little inn they knew and tell them more about the man I thought was their father. I accepted and they decided to come with me to my home. The rest is pretty much what you would expect, and what you know." Harrison took another drink and sat back to gauge the reactions of his audience. Talia smiled serenely at him before turning an amused look to Daniel. Tray grinned wolfishly at first Harrison and then his brother before looking to his father, a question in his eye. Falcon quirked his head like the bird of prey he was named for before grinning back at his twin and casting an equally quizzical look his father's way. Daniel's was the most noticeable, and notable, reaction. He sat back, shaking his head at it all, his sons thinking he was denying it. His head went back and his eyes gazed into nowhere while his shoulders shook with silent laughter. Daniel looked Harrison full in the eye and said,

"No wonder you were a bard who simply happened to like hunting. You really can spin a pretty tale. You know the whole village will explode into a storm of disbelieving remarks when you tell them." Harrison smiled a wolfish smile to rival even Tray's. "You are going to tell them, right?" asked Daniel. Somehow he didn't think so.

"Why should I tell them when they can tell themselves?" Talia burst out laughing. Everyone but Harrison looked at her with interest.

"Don't you see? He's going to sing at Isabelle's birthday celebration, and it's going to be a song only James knew and only James could sing. The villagers have never heard him sing as Harrison and will infer that he was James, and if they don't, the Queen will!" Daniel and the twins laughed along side Harrison and the flame haired woman. Harrison grinned and nodded since that was exactly what he hoped would happen. Daniel shook his head and laughed softly.

"You really have returned to us old friend. You may even be more devious, and chivalrous, than before!" he said, slapping his friend on the shoulder with a grin. The five laughed and continued to talk, and did so until the stars came out.

"We should all get to bed. I want to be a decent ways away in the morning, just so I don't get swarmed by those girls. Honestly, I think they like chasing me! I am going to teach them that I can lead them on the merriest chase ever, and when I say no, I mean no!" Harrison said as he stood. Daniel shook his head. Poor girls, Harrison could back up his claims a hundred times over, as the captain knew from experience.

Daniel rode up to Harrison's house a few days later only to be met with the sound of a lute and a strong voice singing accompaniment drifting around from the back, where the stable was. He shook his head and laughed softly. Of course the hunter would practice the art of a bard with the horses. A gentle knock on the door frame and Harrison stopped playing. "How _do _you do that?" Harrison asked without turning his head. It was almost unnerving. Daniel had to remind himself that Harrison was no longer stupid and only he, Daniel, could sneak up on Harrison before the days of the curse.

"Years and years of practice, old friend. I _was_ called on to do a bit of spying while on active duty you know," the captain said, smiling slightly. Harrison put aside his lute and stood. It was only a small shock to see Harrison, now that his story had been told and since they had been friends for some time. The hunter was as large as ever, his six feet eight topped Daniel's six feet four by a good four inches, but his character had already changed twice since the two had known each other.

"Well, how about I see your skill with a bow by testing it at the hunt? Two silver coins say you miss your first target!" Harrison challenged, his eyes alight with mirth. Daniel laughed and took the bet, staying in the stable to tease his friend while he saddled his horse. The two returned five hours later, each with a buck over their saddle horns. Daniel was a bit glum; he had lost the bet. Vowing that the next time they hunted together he would take a rabbit plus whatever Harrison brought down, Daniel rode home to the palace. It was only another short day before the Queen's birthday, and Harrison's unveiling of his secret.


	9. Harrison Sings

Disclaimer: I... own this part of the plot. The rest... no way on earth. Enjoy, please?

Harrison Sings

Harrison slid back to being primarily a hunter quite well. He rode his black Frisian up to the gates of the palace at the appointed time on the day of the celebration, lute hidden under his thick hunter's cloak.

"Right on time, Hunter," Daniel said, a sparkle in his eye as he winked at Harrison. The younger man blinked, startled that Daniel remembered that day not too long before the day he took a post at the palace. He smiled back, recovering smoothly.

"I make it a point to be prompt, Captain War Hero Sir," he said with a matching smirk. The two smiled, happy that they were back to being friends. Daniel ushered Harrison into the guard house and waved for one of the guardsmen to stable the hunter's horse. The two chatted and laughed until, in a clatter of hooves and a furious thumping of boots, a man tumbled into the guardhouse. "Who might you be?" asked Harrison. The man straightened up; he was rather clumsy, like a young boy who had recently hit a growth spurt; and brushed his vest off. Once he was upright, they were able to get a better look at him. He had mousy brown, slightly windswept looking hair, deep brown eyes, a button nose that would be considered cute on a woman, a strong jaw, and slightly broader than average shoulders, giving him a slender yet powerful build. Add to that his height of five foot seven inches and he was a rather nice looking fellow. A rather nice looking fellow that felt somehow familiar. The most familiar thing about him though was his clothing. Harrison remembered that exact suit to be a favorite of Garin's, though it could just be a suit made to look the same. Still, it had that one stain of the left cuff and that blue stitched rip in the hem of the green tunic. Harrison shook his head and looked into the open yet frantic face of the man.

"It's me, Garin La Fou," the stranger said, hysteria threatening to break through his barriers. The two other men, captain and hunter, stood up with exclamations of disbelief. "I don't get it either but, as sure as I stand before you, it is true," he said, eyes pleading with them to believe what he said. They all settled down to hear the brewer's tale. "I went to bed the same as I have always been, but when I woke up, I was..." he broke off and waved a hand over himself, "THIS!" Daniel shook his head in confusion, while Harrison propped his chin up with his hand, eyes clouded in thought.

"Elisa wouldn't do it, Garin has no ties to anything that concerns her... unless..." he looked up. "Garin, do you think the Queen's mother would do this because I asked her?" Garin's eyes bugged out, slightly. "I'll take that as a no," Harrison sighed and stood up, unfolding himself from his cross legged position on the floor, and paced. Garin had never seen his friend like this. It was almost scary. Harrison snapped his fingers. "I have it! Talia!" Daniel and the transformed Garin looked at him with identical looks on their faces.

"HUH?" they asked at the exact same time. Harrison spun to face them, his shoulder length black hair flying and his dark hazel eyes dancing.

"Talia is the Queen's cousin right? If Talia loved Garin enough, the power of all three of them; Isabelle, Elisa, and Talia, might have a collective effect on him!" Daniel laughed while Garin simply stared at his old friend.

"When did you get smart?" the brewer asked. He hadn't pieced it together that Harrison's I.Q had been lowered by the eminence amount of character building memories locked away. Harrison laughed so loud the stable hands could hear it.

"You'll see, oh you shall see!" Lights that been almost permanently in the large man's eyes blazed even brighter and danced more than ever before. The three talked and joked until it was time for the birthday celebration. Daniel escorted Garin and Harrison to the ballroom, pulling a few strings as he went. Isabelle then greeted her guests and started the dance. The Queen's partner was her husband, Matthew, who seemed to glow as he spun his wife around the ballroom floor. Harrison found himself dancing with nearly every woman there. After dancing with one of the triplets for a hour, Harrison managed to get to a quiet corner to drink his punch. Daniel walked up to the platform where the musicians played and asked for everyone's attention. When he didn't get it, he sighed, dropping his head a bit. He lifted his head suddenly and said, pitching his voice so it carried through everything,

"May I have your attention please!" The room went silent immediately. Daniel then announced, "We have a very special guest singer here who would like to offer a song to her majesty on her birthday." Harrison sighed and made his way to the platform.

"You can either sit and enjoy, or you can dance to my tune," he said, setting his drink aside. Curious murmurs ran through the crowd. Harrison began to play James' favorite song, a marching song from what he called 'The Old Days'.

"_'We're a march'n out_

_We're a march'n out_

_We're a march'n out to war me boys!_

_pack your bullets,_

_pack your powder,_

_pack your gun, and_

_a bring your will_

_for..._

_We're a march'n out to war!'_

_the Cap'n called to his men_

_The men_

_they yelled on out,_

_'We'll a-pack our bullets,_

_We'll a-pack our powder,_

_We'll a-pack our guns, and_

_We'll a-bring our will._

_We'll march it all behind your_

_standard.'_

_The Cap'n he called back,_

_'Glad be I,_

_Lucky be I,_

_Proud be I,_

_to have ye by me side.'_

_He called them forward,_

_Hal,_

_Mal,_

_Gar,_

_And good ol' Mar._

_Out they went,_

_A march'n out to_

_war._

_We sing their names_

_to honor their deeds,_

_Hal,_

_Mal,_

_Gar,_

_And good ol' Mar._

_They marched,_

_They camped,_

_They fought,_

_They bled._

_And come a march'n back!_

_'Brave ye be,_

_Strong ye be,_

_Smart ye be,_

_to make it on back_

_To house,_

_To hall,_

_To drink,_

_To bed,_

_Ye made it on back boys!'_

_The men cried on out_

_'To house,_

_To hall,_

_to drink,_

_to bed!'_

_A clink'n went the glasses_

_That joyful night._

_Remember all ye lads,_

_There be none like_

_Hal,_

_Mal,_

_Gar,_

_and good ol' Mar!"_

The room was silent. Harrison smiled, and played another song. It had no words, but it was familiar. It was more appropriate for a birthday gift, yet Harrison was not finished. He played song after song, each more familiar than the last. When he could see they were catching on to who he had been, Harrison stopped.

"This song is dedicated to Queen Isabelle," he said softly, beginning to play an old familiar song, and then began to sing. Many were startled, but as the words wove a tapestry, no-one cared.

"_On a dark and rainy night,_

_A maiden rode her faithful horse_

_on through the woods._

_She rode until she saw a fearsome sight._

_A castle loomed high_

_Above fair lady's head._

_Spires pierced the clouds_

_and iron gates growled_

_as they were opened._

_Undaunted, fair young Isabelle_

_made her way to foreboding doors._

_Dripping wet and ghostly white,_

_fair Isabelle walked the haunted halls._

_With her courage_

_a door was opened._

_Impressed with her will_

_and love for kin,_

_the Master did free_

_the maiden's father._

_She called the servants right_

_she called them left_

_she called a charge._

_Fierce battle did she wage,_

_upon disorder and age old muck._

_Kindness and a friendly heart did win_

_the master's favor._

_Upon the balcony her path she choose._

_Love was there_

_yet kin did call her far from him._

_Father in the snow did lay,_

_a prayer upon his lips._

_Fair Isabelle her father found,_

_to home she got._

_When he saw his sister's burden,_

_dear Daniel ran to get some help._

_When out he stayed for far to long,_

_Isabelle the truth did see._

_Though she shouted and did fight,_

_in the cellar she was cast._

_To the castle did the false help march._

_They came with swords,_

_they came with axes,_

_The Palace wall they did siege._

_Though safe inside the beast did hide,_

_one brave and mighty hunter_

_did track him down._

_Forlorn and desiring of death,_

_the beast did stand._

_The hunter's arrow flew,_

_straight and true,_

_to lodge in waiting beast's side._

_With a roar and a crash_

_the beast did fall upon the roof._

_Roars and shouts,_

_Swords and claws._

_The two, mighty and bold,_

_a struggle they did have._

_True love the tables turned_

_and ov'r the edge did toss_

_the mighty hunter._

_Lights flashed,_

_shouts rang,_

_Captain of the castle did remember_

_the duties he did have._

_Princess her brother, recognized._

_To Prince fair Lady's love returned_

_the beast._

_Wedding bells did chime,_

_the defeated hunter did attend,_

_in silence was he hidden._

_Though none did see,_

_an audience he was given._

_His tale was told._

_The King and his Queen did listen._

_'Wronged ye I have, your Majesties._

_I would that you'd forgive_

_a rouge like me, though,_

_in your place I know t'would_

_not be the thing for me.' he said._

_In silence he did sit, his tale all told,_

_to wait for judgment from the crown._

_'Right ye are, on both accounts.'_

_the Queen she did say._

_The king he did declare,_

_'Yet I do think you deserve a chance._

_Gone are the days when I was cruel,_

_let none now say that of their king.'_

_an agreement they did reach._

_'Prove to us your worth and forgiveness_

_shall we grant.'_

_Bowing the hunter did depart,_

_his word did he give._

_His songs then gave joy_

_to all who did hear._

_Four long years his worth_

_he proved to man and woman._

_Now hither doth he come to ask_

_the royal couple, has his worth_

_been proven to them?"_

Harrison bowed, his songs all finished, to hear what the King and Queen would say. "That was beautiful, Harrison! During the time you and Daniel fought, I often wondered what you would sound like if he made you sing. Of course, that was a daydream of revenge," Isabelle said, a faint blush creeping up her neck. Daniel and the King both laughed, it was a fitting revenge against the proud hunter. Laughing slightly, Harrison ducked his head, when he raised it once again there was a strange light in his eyes.

"You may call me whatever you desire. You may call any kind of punishment down on me, but I shall say I was deserving of it for all the trouble I have caused you and your kin." Isabelle sighed.

"You have paid for your foolishness and steadied the structures you caused to lean. Your worth has been proven, hunter, now reveal its depth." Harrison's eyes gleamed even more.

"Now what might ye be meaning by that?" he asked, the light in his eye showing its mischievous nature. Isabelle laughed, quiet and clear like a brook rushing and chuckling over the stones on it bed.

"Tell them straight out. I know that you know that we know, now let them know." Harrison sighed, he was running out of play room.

"I shall do as you command, though it is cruel to cheat me of my fun." Garin shook his head, marched up to look his friend in the eye, still a little shocked that they were nearly the same height, and said,

"What fun? What do their majesties know about you? You have got some major explaining to do." Harrison smiled at his friend, also a little shocked that their eyes were nearly level yet hiding his surprise quickly and professionally.

"I do indeed have much to explain. Do you think you can guess at some of it?" Garin grinned, closing his eyes at the weirdness of the whole thing.

"One, the King and Queen knew you were alive this whole time. Two, you wrote that last song, using the story of the Queen. Three, the private audience was real, and you had it. Four, you were either talking with James Smith or were James Smith. I, for one, believe you were James," Garin reeled off, settling into what Harrison would later refer to, in fondness, as the 'La Fou Stance of Lecturing.' Harrison smiled, then laughed softly when he remembered that Garin had his eyes closed.

"Very perceptive. Yes to the first, yes to the second, yes to the third, and yes to the fourth but only in the assumption that I was James," Harrison said, mirth dancing his his eyes and through his words. Garin laughed, that reply was so much like James that he had to believe him.

"Anything else?"

"When do you think I became James?" Harrison asked, his voice reaching every corner of the silent room. Garin opened his eyes and saw that Harrison was having a whole lot of fun with this. It was then that all who could see his face knew that he had been planning the unveiling of this particular fact for some time.

"One of two times. One, when you fell. Two, when Isabelle told Matthew she loved him."

"When Isabelle told Matthew she loved him, I would guess. When the rain turned multicolored it rose in a mist around me. When it cleared, I was in my home and I was the man you called James Smith." Garin shook his head at it all. How could it be true? He looked at his friend, saw the truth in his eyes, and sighed. Turning to face the whole room he said,

"I believe this story, outrageous as it is. You may be wondering what my word is worth, as you may believe me to be a stranger. I tell you now, as sure as the dawn, I am Garin La Fou. My story is simple, I love Talia, and I hope that she loves me as well. If you are wondering why this is important..." Harrison's laughter cut him off.

"Let the bard tell the story my friend!" Garin bowed his head and backed off. "One day, I rode out to the forest and met with Elisa. We had a talk, we two, and I began to prepare for the end of James Smith. I asked her that day to send someone to Garin, who was again in my employ. Talia was by his side when I returned after my yearly roam, a pale, flame wreathed flower. I knew that the enchantress had chosen well and it became doubly true when I found that she was Queen Isabelle's cousin. Garin grew to love the flame lily who stood by his side, and I could see she loved the stocky brewer. Just this morning, while I waited in the guardhouse with the famed Captain Daniel Marcos Ivnio, Garin came tumbling into the room, all arms and legs." The room laughed softly, it was quite a stretch from what they knew. "He told us of his change and managed to convince us he was who he said he was. Now I tell you, he is Garin La Fou and I was James Smith." Matthew stood up and walked over to them.

"You both are men of good report. I would know, since I have in my council chambers the man who gives the best reports." This brought a few chuckles. "I know you both have good heads on your sturdy shoulders, take orders, and would not be to bad at giving them. I may not be a wordsmith, as Harrison can be at times." The king winked at the large man, much to Harrison's surprise. "Mother once told me that it was up to me to do something. I believe she meant for me to fix up the kingdom after the wave of crime and a couple of years of hard winters. At the time I was crowned, I had much more to clean up than just roads and a few pockets of rouges my father had not been able to clear. At this time, I still have a lot to fix, but it will go much faster with people such as yourselves at my side." Isabelle closed her eyes and grunted with a smile on her fair face.

"What my husband is TRYING to say is, will you stand with us? Will you do what you can to help us?" Harrison smiled, his eyes dancing as always.

"Has anyone ever told you you have a silver tongue, my Queen? I ask for you are surely to be know as the eloquent Queen."

"I take it you shall gives us your aid, however you may?"

"Of course my Queen! Would you think anything less of me? Wait! No, please don't answer that, I know the answer already." Isabelle laughed, Garin shook his head, and Matthew seemed to have caught a summer cold for all his coughing.

"Well, we have a bard who can double as a hunter, but what about our brewer?" asked the queen, once she had finally gotten her mirth under control.

"Oh, you already know the answer to that Queen Isabelle. I would be honored to serve you how I may. If I may be so bold, you had it backwards with witty Harrison. He is a hunter who can double as a bard," Garin said, then dived into a roll as Harrison, laughing and calling his friend ridiculous names, lunged after him. Matthew had a renewed fit of coughing, Isabelle hid her giggles behind her fan, and Daniel gave up trying to look dignified and burst out laughing as Garin scrambled all over the ballroom with the big hunter only ever five steps behind him.

"I would have to agree with you Garin! Harrison is indeed primarily a hunter. I can certainly see that quite well now!" Isabelle called to the running Garin, who had a mocking Harrison hot on his heels.

"Give up while you have the breath Garin. I don't believe you will ever be a runner, possibly a sprinter, but not a runner," Daniel said, pitching his voice so it could cut through the cries of the wounded. Garin apparently realized, or figured, Daniel that was right because he suddenly stopped. What the captain hadn't thought would happen was that the two would start to wrestle, which they did as soon as they were close enough. After a minute though they both stopped, as if a predetermined point had been reached. As they sat side by side on the floor, panting, everyone, even the royals, talked about the scene they had just seen. They were surprised when the two on the floor began to sing about their merry chase and the 'spirited' fight afterward. When their song was done, they got to their feet, bowed to the King and Queen, and made their way to the doors and out to their horses, whistling merrily with their arms around each others shoulders. It was quite a sight to see. So much so that Isabelle couldn't hold it in any longer and laughed. Matthew decided to follow her example, but led her to a chair and lowered himself into the one next to her before doing so. It was a birthday to remember and ever after, Garin La Fou and Harrison Gaston were asked to preform at all royal celebrations, no matter how simple or grand. Even the humble town of Tales Wood Village asked for them to preform.

A/N: Okay, so, if you've managed to read this far, you must have seen something you liked. I don't make it this far in a story I don't really care for. So, I'd like to say thank you. Also, I'd like to ask for a review. I mean, I've been posting this for... a month? More? And not a single review. Anyway, no-one wants to read the moping of a writer, so I'll end it with this: only one more chapter, and that could be considered more of an epilogue.


	10. All Things must End

All Things Must End

The day after the party, Matthew got reports that there were strange men in the woods. Daniel was creeping in the forest near where the men had been spotted, and when he heard a rustle, he was about to shoot when he heard Harrison's voice say, "Garin! We need to move silently. Since when were you so clumsy in the undergrowth?" A sigh filtered through the thick leaves of the bush in which the two hid.

"Perhaps it was when there was suddenly more of me than before?" The unmistakable sound of the palm of a hand smacking a forehead made its way to the crouching captain.

"Right! How stupid of me! Please forgive me, Garin, I was wrong to treat you like that." A soft sound of disbelief came form the bush.

"I still have a hard time believing that you and the man who treated Belle like a prize are the same person." A soft laugh issued from the large, but amazingly quiet, Harrison.

"Even I have a time of it. So is my apology accepted?"

"Of course my friend. It is good to have you back."

"It is indeed good to have Harrison Gaston back from whatever pit he was in," Daniel said, parting the bush's branches with his bow tip. Harrison smiled, a sound like laughter seemed to float out of him.

"Do you want some help finding those strangers, once we shut our big mouths?" the hunter asked. Daniel's smile told them he was glad of the help. After that day, Harrison was always with Daniel, ready to lend a hand. Garin pulled his weight as well, hiding slaves in his cellars and giving them food and a change of cloths whenever they came from the southern kingdoms, or even the nearer estates. Whenever the king called, Harrison and Garin answered; ready, willing, and able to help. Matthew worked to get rid of slavery, which had crept up to his kingdom from the south after his vanishing. Roads were repaired, nobles inspected and a few times replaced with more competent or open minded people. One man was truly horrible to everyone in his lands. A young man who Matthew had thought was a servant or a page and who he took under his wing when first they started the whole investigation turned out to actually the heir. Once Matthew had shown the young man the follies of the ways he had been taught, he was a rather competent, strong, and fair lord. The story of how he changed from the hardened youth who would have abused his power when it was given to him to being a fair and kind man is quiet amazing. However, that is another story for another time. The first five years of Matthew and Isabelle's reign were filled with reform, investigations, slavery trials, and speeches to show those who lived in the land what kind of people the new rulers were. Harrison was hailed as the new hero of Tales Wood Village, as well as the wiliest hunter in history. Garin was sighed after by many girls not only for his looks, which weren't too bad after his transformation, but for his connections and his heart. Many people said the Garin La Fou was the best brewer in the land and that part of his skill came from his heart of gold. Daniel, though now in his late forties, was still a soldier of great renown, rallying his men and taking out entire patrols by himself. Falcon and Tray proved to be just as awe inspiring as their father and just as kind as their grandmother, mother, and honorary aunt. Isabelle and Matthew were kind and gentle, but were not people to be trifled with. The king was just as good with bow, blade, mace, and tongue as Daniel and his father. Isabelle was a terror with a bow, could hold her own with a blade, had her mother's magical gift, and was so sweet she could wind anyone around her finger. On the sixth anniversary of the royal couple, a surprise family reunion from both sides of both of their families showed up in the entrance hall. Matthew took one look at all the people in the large room and turned to look toward the chambers he had given Daniel.

"DANNNNIEL! I COULD USE SOME HELP HERE!" he shouted, unknowingly using his own magic to project his voice into Daniel's room. Out Daniel flew, followed closely by his sons who had rooms right next to their father's.

"What?! What is it?!" he said, his hair sticking up at odd angles. Matthew waved at the entrance hall and its ocean of of people.

"An unplanned family reunion," he said, his voice wooden and his face looking as if he had just seen the face of death itself. Daniel looked over the sea of heads and laughed and laughed and laughed.

"I shall set the servants on full alert and warn them of the delicate tempers in the crowd," Daniel said, a twinkle in his eye. Isabelle giggled a little and whisked her husband off to find her mother and after that got him to show her his younger brother and his various cousins. A year later, they had their first born child, a strong and healthy son to govern their people when they either died or stepped down. Many children were born to the royals and their various friends. Whenever one family in their circle of friends had a child they all gathered to congratulate the parents and coo over the newborn. The reign of Matthew and Isabelle was a long and happy one. The people were amazed when they realized that the rumors of elf blood in the royal family were true and that Isabelle was a full blooded elf. When their firstborn son, Jacynth, reached the age of twenty-one the happy two stepped down and passed the throne to him. Peace and prosperity stayed with the kingdom, and wisdom with its king, for more than a hundred generations. The Gaston and La Fou families stayed close friends with the Ivino and Tavagonio families, working closely with them and even sending their kids to live with one of the other three families every summer. The royals loved it because it gave their children a chance to have a normal childhood and gave them a chance to have a different face in the halls. The other three liked to have a different child as well, though they had to break a few habits they had no care for occasionally. It would be three centuries before the kingdom was seriously threatened and major changes had to be made once again. The story of that trial and its outcome is yet another story for yet another time. Now, however, it is time for you to return to your world,over come the beast in your own heart, and fix the kingdom of your life.

A/N: and so it ends with space for a sequel... which I likely won't write seeing as I have no inspiration for it. Feel free to send me your plot ideas for the sequel, if you want one, and I'll let you know if I use your idea. Hope you enjoyed my story, tell me what you thought, and have a nice life.


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